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The initial indication Malcolm McKenzie had of his situation was when a neighbor loudly knocked on his front door and informed him his beloved Mini had plunged into a hole.

"I stepped outside expecting a minor dip under a wheel or something similar. But when I walked out to check it out, I understood, oh, that really is a significant cavity," he explained.

His automobile had descended into a 10-foot wide opening, likely caused by a collapsed mine shaft, and McKenzie has endured 25 days caught in a bureaucratic "nightmare" trying to figure out how to extricate his Mini.

The Main Issue: Unregistered Property

The hitch is that the land isn't registered. The authorities has stated it can't remove the fences blocking off the sinkhole until property rights had been confirmed. "It's quite a difficult situation," said McKenzie, 36, a self-employed designer. "It's red tape everywhere."

McKenzie has resided in the neighborhood in Redruth for about 10 years and actually has a parking space beside 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 local authority that he wouldn't get a ticket.

"I'd finally felt like I was making progress, I had a dependable small vehicle that was economical and simple to keep on the road. It meant I could finally focus on trying to save up to take my daughter on her aspirational journey to Japan someday. She's constantly dreamed to go."

The Event and Aftermath

Then came that knock on the door on a Saturday in November. "My neighbour was quite panicked. The officers arrived and secured the zone off. We all had to stay in the homes because we can't get out without going past the hole. The highways people came out, put the barrier up, and then they came out and put a additional barrier up surrounding it as well."

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

McKenzie thought he would be separated from his car for a short period. But that short time have now become weeks.

A Potential Solution

An end may be approaching. The authorities has said it will work with McKenzie to – temporarily – lift the fences to permit the car to be removed. He commented: "They have agreed to work with my insurer's recovery team and try to arrange a date and an acceptable way of extracting it that doesn't put anybody at risk."

The car has been significantly harmed and is probably to be written off. "At least I can say my Mini met its end in a memorable way – not everyone can claim their car was swallowed by the Earth itself," McKenzie noted.

Authority Statement

A spokesperson from the authorities expressed it sympathised with McKenzie. But it added: "This collapse did not happen on public property. We have secured the location and informed the vehicle owner that we will organize to temporarily remove the barrier to allow him to retrieve the car.

"As the land is unregistered, our safety measures will remain in place until property ownership has been established, and we will continue to observe the vicinity to ensure everyone's security."