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The initial sign Malcolm McKenzie received of his situation was when a neighbor urgently banged on his door and told him his beloved Mini had plunged into a hole.

"I went out expecting a small pothole under a wheel or something similar. But when I went out to take a look, I realized, oh, that truly is a proper hole," he stated.

His automobile had dropped into a 10-foot wide opening, likely caused by a mineshaft collapse, and McKenzie has spent 25 days stuck in a administrative "nightmare" trying to figure out how to extricate his Mini.

The Main Issue: Unregistered Land

The hitch is that the land has no registered owner. The authorities has said it won't take down the barriers blocking off the sinkhole until land ownership had been established. "It's quite a difficult situation," said McKenzie, 36, a self-employed designer. "It's red tape everywhere."

McKenzie has lived in the area in Redruth for about a decade and in fact has a designated spot beside his house, but it is too narrow to be practical so he began parking outside a local bakery. He had verified with both the shop and the local authority that he would avoid receiving a parking fine.

"I'd finally felt like I was getting somewhere, I had a reliable small vehicle that was fuel-efficient and easy to keep on the road. It signified I could at last focus on trying to put money aside to take my child on her aspirational journey to Japan one day. She's always wanted to go."

The Incident and Aftermath

Then arrived that loud rapping on a Saturday in November. "The person next door was quite panicked. The police arrived and closed the zone off. We all had to remain in the homes because we couldn't leave without going past the collapse. The road crew arrived, put the fence up, and then they returned and put a second fence up around it as well."

It is thought the opening may be an unlucky remnant of Pednandrea Mine, a disused copper and tin mine.

McKenzie thought he would be without his car for a short period. But that short time have now become weeks.

A Possible Resolution

An conclusion may be in sight. The authorities has stated it will cooperate with McKenzie to – temporarily – lift the barriers to allow the Mini to be removed. He said: "They are willing to assist my insurance company's retrieval crew and try to schedule a day and an suitable way of extracting it that ensures no anybody at risk."

The car has been significantly harmed and is probably to be declared a total loss. "At least I can say my Mini met its end in style – not everyone can say their car was eaten by the ground beneath them," McKenzie noted.

Council Response

A spokesperson from the authorities said 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 informed the car owner that we will arrange to temporarily remove the fence to enable him to recover the car.

"Since no one owns the land, our barriers will remain in place until land ownership has been established, and we will continue to monitor the surrounding area to guarantee everyone's security."