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The first indication Malcolm McKenzie received of his situation was when a person living nearby loudly knocked on his door and informed him his cherished Mini had plunged into a opening.

"I went out expecting a minor dip under a tire or something like that. But when I walked out to take a look, I realized, oh, that truly is a significant cavity," he stated.

His automobile had descended into a 10-foot wide opening, possibly caused by a collapsed mine shaft, and McKenzie has spent 25 days stuck in a bureaucratic "nightmare" trying to determine how to extricate his Mini.

The Core Issue: Unclaimed Land

The complication is that the property isn't registered. The authorities has said it can't remove the barriers cordoning off the sinkhole until property rights had been established. "It's a bit of a nightmare," said McKenzie, 36, a self-employed creative. "It's red tape everywhere."

McKenzie has lived in the neighborhood in Redruth for about 10 years and actually has a designated spot next to his house, but it is not wide enough to be useful so he began parking outside a local bakery. He had checked with both the bakery and the local authority that he would avoid receiving a ticket.

"I'd finally felt like I was making progress, I had a reliable small vehicle that was fuel-efficient and easy to keep on the road. It meant I could at last focus on trying to put money aside to take my child on her aspirational journey to Japan someday. She's constantly dreamed to go."

The Event and Consequences

Then arrived that knock on the door on Saturday 1 November. "My neighbour was quite panicked. The officers turned up and secured the area off. We all had to stay in the houses because we couldn't leave without passing by the collapse. The highways people arrived, put the barrier up, and then they came out and put a second fence up around it as well."

It is thought the hole may be an unfortunate legacy of a historic local mine, a abandoned copper and tin mine.

McKenzie thought he would be without his vehicle for a few days. But that short time have now become weeks.

A Potential Resolution

An conclusion may be in sight. The council has stated it will cooperate with McKenzie to – temporarily – lift the barriers to allow the Mini to be removed. He commented: "They are willing to assist my insurer's retrieval crew and try to schedule a day and an suitable way of extracting it that doesn't put anybody at danger."

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

Authority Response

A spokesperson from the authorities said it sympathised with McKenzie. But it added: "The ground giving way did not occur on public property. We have made the area safe and informed the car owner that we will organize to temporarily remove the fence to enable him to retrieve the car.

"Since no one owns the land, our safety measures will stay up until land ownership has been established, and we will continue to monitor the surrounding area to guarantee everyone's security."