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The first indication the local man received of his predicament was when a person living nearby urgently banged on his door and informed him his beloved Mini had plunged into a opening.

"I stepped outside anticipating a small pothole under a wheel or something like that. But when I walked out to check it out, I understood, oh, that truly is a significant cavity," he explained.

His automobile had dropped into a 10-foot wide gap, possibly created by a collapsed mine shaft, and McKenzie has endured 25 days stuck in a bureaucratic "nightmare" trying to determine how to retrieve his car.

The Main Issue: Unclaimed Property

The complication is that the property has no registered owner. The authorities has said it can't remove the fences blocking off the sinkhole until land ownership had been established. "It's a bit of a nightmare," said McKenzie, 36, a freelance designer. "There's bureaucracy at every turn."

McKenzie has resided in the area in Redruth for about 10 years and in fact has a designated spot next to his house, but it is too narrow to be useful so he started leaving his car outside a nearby bakery. He had checked with both the bakery and the council 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 signified 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 Aftermath

Then came that loud rapping on Saturday 1 November. "The person next door was quite panicked. The police arrived and secured the zone off. We all had to remain in the houses because we can't get out without passing by the collapse. The road crew arrived, put the barrier up, and then they returned and put a second fence up around it as well."

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

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

A Possible Solution

An conclusion may be approaching. The authorities has stated it will work with McKenzie to – temporarily – lift the fences to allow the car to be removed. He commented: "They are willing to assist 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 style – not everyone can say their car was swallowed by the Earth itself," McKenzie remarked.

Authority Statement

A representative from the local council expressed it sympathised with McKenzie. But it added: "The ground giving way did not occur on public property. We have secured the location and informed the car owner that we will organize to lift the fence to allow him to recover the car.

"Since no one owns the land, our barriers will remain in place until land ownership has been determined, and we will continue to observe the vicinity to ensure public safety."