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The initial sign the local man had of his predicament was when a neighbor urgently banged on his front door and informed him his cherished Mini had plunged into a hole.

"I stepped outside expecting a minor dip under a tire or something similar. But when I went out to check it out, I realized, oh, that really is a significant cavity," he stated.

His automobile had descended into a 3-metre wide opening, likely created by a mineshaft collapse, and McKenzie has spent 25 days stuck in a bureaucratic "nightmare" trying to figure out how to extricate his Mini.

The Main Problem: Unclaimed Property

The complication is that the land has no registered owner. The authorities has stated it won't take down the barriers blocking off the sinkhole until land ownership had been confirmed. "It's a bit of a nightmare," said McKenzie, 36, a self-employed designer. "There's bureaucracy at every turn."

McKenzie has lived in the area in Redruth for about a decade and actually has a designated spot beside his house, but it is not wide enough to be useful so he started leaving his car outside a nearby bakery. He had checked with both the bakery and the local authority that he wouldn't get a ticket.

"I'd finally felt like I was making progress, I had a reliable little car that was economical and easy to keep on the road. It signified I could at last focus on trying to put money aside to take my daughter on her dream trip to Japan someday. She's constantly dreamed to go."

The Event and Consequences

Then came that loud rapping on a Saturday in November. "My neighbour was very alarmed. The police turned up and closed the area off. We all had to stay in the houses because we can't get out without passing by the hole. The highways people came out, erected the barrier up, and then they came out and put a second fence up surrounding it as well."

It is believed the opening may be an unlucky legacy of a historic local mine, a abandoned copper and tin mine.

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

A Potential Resolution

An conclusion may be in sight. The authorities has stated it will work with McKenzie to – briefly – lift the fences to permit the car to be removed. He commented: "They are willing to assist my insurance company's recovery team and try to arrange a day and an suitable way of extracting it that doesn't put anybody at risk."

The vehicle has been badly damaged and is probably to be written off. "On the bright side I can say my Mini went out in a memorable way – not everyone can claim their vehicle was swallowed by the Earth itself," McKenzie remarked.

Council Statement

A spokesperson from the authorities said it sympathised with McKenzie. But it said: "The ground giving way did not occur on council land. We have made the area safe and informed the vehicle owner that we will arrange to lift the barrier to allow him to retrieve the car.

"As the land is unregistered, our safety measures will remain in place until land ownership has been established, and we will persist to monitor the surrounding area to ensure public safety."