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The first 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 opening.

"I went out anticipating a minor dip under a tire or something similar. But when I went out to check it out, I realized, oh, that truly is a significant cavity," he explained.

His automobile had descended into a 3-metre wide gap, possibly created by a mineshaft collapse, and McKenzie has endured 25 days stuck in a bureaucratic "difficult situation" trying to figure out how to retrieve his car.

The Core Problem: Unclaimed Property

The hitch is that the land has no registered owner. The authorities has stated it won't take down the barriers cordoning off the hole until land ownership had been established. "It's a bit of a nightmare," said McKenzie, 36, a freelance creative. "It's red tape everywhere."

McKenzie has resided in the neighborhood in Redruth for about 10 years and in fact has a designated spot beside his house, but it is too narrow to be useful so he started leaving his car outside a nearby bakery. He had verified with both the shop and the council that he wouldn't get a parking fine.

"I'd finally felt like I was making progress, I had a reliable small vehicle that was economical and simple to keep on the road. It signified I could finally 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 a Saturday in November. "The person next door was quite panicked. The officers turned up and secured the area off. We all had to stay in the homes because we couldn't leave without going past the hole. The road crew came out, erected the fence up, and then they returned and put a second fence up surrounding it as well."

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

McKenzie believed he would be without his vehicle for a few days. But that short time have now turned into weeks.

A Possible Solution

An conclusion may be approaching. The council has said it will cooperate with McKenzie to – briefly – remove the barriers 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 danger."

The car has been badly damaged and is probably to be written off. "On the bright side I can say my Mini met its end in style – not everyone can say their car was eaten by the ground beneath them," McKenzie remarked.

Authority Response

A representative from the authorities expressed it felt sorry with McKenzie. But it added: "The ground giving way did not happen on public property. We have secured the location and informed the car owner that we will arrange to temporarily remove the barrier to allow him to retrieve the vehicle.

"Since no one owns the land, our safety measures will remain in place until property ownership has been established, and we will persist to monitor the vicinity to guarantee public safety."