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The first indication Malcolm McKenzie had of his predicament was when a person living nearby loudly knocked on his front door and informed him his cherished Mini had fallen into a hole.

"I went out expecting a small pothole under a tire or something similar. But when I went out to take a look, I realized, oh, that truly is a proper hole," he stated.

His automobile had descended into a 10-foot wide gap, likely created by a collapsed mine shaft, and McKenzie has endured 25 days caught in a bureaucratic "difficult situation" trying to figure out how to extricate his car.

The Core Issue: Unregistered Property

The hitch is that the land has no registered owner. The authorities has said 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 freelance creative. "It's red tape everywhere."

McKenzie has resided in the neighborhood in Redruth for about a decade and actually has a parking space next to his house, but it is not wide enough to be useful 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'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 aspirational journey to Japan one day. She's constantly dreamed to go."

The Event and Aftermath

Then arrived that knock on the door on a Saturday in November. "My neighbour was quite panicked. The officers turned up and secured the zone off. We all had to stay in the homes because we couldn't leave without passing by the collapse. The highways people came out, erected the fence up, and then they came out and put a second fence up surrounding it as well."

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

McKenzie thought he would be without his car for a few days. But days have now turned into weeks.

A Possible Resolution

An conclusion may be in sight. The authorities has said it will work with McKenzie to – temporarily – remove the barriers to permit the car to be removed. He commented: "They are willing to work with my insurer's retrieval crew and try to arrange a date and an acceptable way of getting it out that doesn't put anybody at danger."

The car has been badly damaged and is probably to be declared a total loss. "On the bright side I can say my Mini met its end in a memorable way – not everyone can say their vehicle was swallowed by the ground beneath them," McKenzie remarked.

Authority Statement

A representative from the authorities said it felt sorry with McKenzie. But it added: "This collapse did not occur on public property. We have made the area safe and advised the car owner that we will organize to temporarily remove the fence to allow him to retrieve the vehicle.

"As the land is unregistered, our safety measures will remain in place until property ownership has been determined, and we will persist to monitor the surrounding area to ensure everyone's security."