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The first sign Malcolm McKenzie received of his predicament was when a person living nearby loudly knocked on his front door and told him his cherished Mini had plunged into a hole.

"I went out expecting a minor dip under a wheel or something similar. But when I went out to check it out, I realized, oh, that really is a proper hole," he explained.

His vehicle had descended into a 3-metre wide opening, likely created by a mineshaft collapse, and McKenzie has endured 25 days caught in a administrative "nightmare" trying to figure out how to extricate his car.

The Main Issue: Unclaimed Land

The complication is that the land has no registered owner. The local council has said it won't take down the fences blocking off the sinkhole until land ownership had been established. "It's quite a difficult situation," said McKenzie, 36, a freelance creative. "There's bureaucracy at every turn."

McKenzie has resided in the neighborhood in Redruth for about 10 years and actually has a parking space next to his house, but it is too narrow to be practical so he started leaving his car outside a local bakery. He had verified with both the bakery and the local authority that he wouldn't get a ticket.

"I'd finally felt like I was getting somewhere, I had a reliable small vehicle that was economical and easy to keep on the road. It meant I could finally focus on trying to save up to take my child on her aspirational journey to Japan one day. She's constantly dreamed to go."

The Incident and Consequences

Then arrived that knock on the door on a Saturday in November. "My neighbour was quite panicked. The police arrived and secured the area off. We all had to stay in the homes because we couldn't leave without passing by the collapse. The road crew came out, erected the barrier up, and then they returned and placed a additional barrier up surrounding it as well."

It is thought the opening may be an unfortunate legacy of Pednandrea Mine, a abandoned copper and tin mine.

McKenzie thought he would be without his car for a short period. But days have now turned into weeks.

A Potential Resolution

An conclusion may be approaching. The council has stated it will work with McKenzie to – temporarily – lift the barriers to permit the car to be recovered. He commented: "They have agreed to assist my insurance company's recovery team and try to arrange a date and an acceptable way of getting it out that doesn't put anybody at danger."

The car has been badly damaged and is probably to be declared a total loss. "At least I can say my Mini went out in a memorable way – not everyone can say their car was swallowed by the Earth itself," McKenzie noted.

Council Response

A spokesperson from the local council expressed it felt sorry with McKenzie. But it added: "The ground giving way did not happen on public property. We have made the area safe and advised the car owner that we will arrange to lift the barrier to enable him to retrieve the car.

"As the land is unregistered, our barriers will stay up until property ownership has been determined, and we will persist to observe the surrounding area to ensure everyone's security."