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The initial indication Malcolm McKenzie had of his situation was when a neighbor loudly knocked on his front door and told him his cherished Mini had fallen into a opening.

"I went out anticipating a minor dip under a wheel or something like that. But when I went out to check it out, I understood, oh, that truly is a significant cavity," he stated.

His vehicle had dropped into a 10-foot wide opening, possibly caused by a mineshaft collapse, and McKenzie has spent 25 days caught in a administrative "difficult situation" trying to determine how to retrieve his Mini.

The Main Issue: Unregistered Land

The complication is that the property isn't registered. The local council has said it can't remove the fences cordoning off the sinkhole until property rights had been established. "It's a bit of a nightmare," said McKenzie, 36, a self-employed designer. "There's bureaucracy at every turn."

McKenzie has resided in the neighborhood in Redruth for about a decade and in fact has a designated spot next to his house, but it is not wide enough to be practical so he began parking outside a local bakery. He had checked with both the shop and the council that he would avoid receiving a parking fine.

"I had finally reached a point like I was making progress, I had a dependable little car that was fuel-efficient and easy to keep on the road. It meant I could at last focus on trying to save up to take my daughter on her aspirational journey to Japan someday. She's always wanted to go."

The Event and Consequences

Then came that loud rapping on Saturday 1 November. "My neighbour was very alarmed. The police arrived and secured the zone off. We all had to stay in the houses because we can't get out without going past the hole. The road crew came out, put the barrier up, and then they returned and put a additional barrier up around it as well."

It is thought the opening may be an unfortunate legacy of Pednandrea Mine, a disused mining site.

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

A Potential Solution

An end may be in sight. The authorities has stated it will cooperate with McKenzie to – temporarily – lift the barriers to permit the car to be removed. He said: "They have agreed to work with my insurance company's retrieval crew and try to schedule a date and an suitable way of extracting it that doesn't put 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 went out in a memorable way – not everyone can claim their vehicle was eaten by the ground beneath them," McKenzie remarked.

Council Statement

A spokesperson from the local council expressed it felt sorry with McKenzie. But it added: "This collapse did not happen on public property. We have made the area safe and informed the vehicle owner that we will organize to lift the barrier to enable him to recover the vehicle.

"Since no one owns the land, our barriers will stay up until property ownership has been determined, and we will persist to observe the surrounding area to guarantee everyone's security."