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

"I went out expecting a minor dip under a wheel or something like that. But when I went out to check it out, I understood, oh, that really is a significant cavity," he stated.

His automobile had descended into a 3-metre wide opening, possibly created by a collapsed mine shaft, and McKenzie has spent 25 days stuck in a administrative "nightmare" trying to determine how to extricate his car.

The Main Issue: Unregistered Property

The complication is that the property has no registered owner. The local council has stated it can't remove the barriers cordoning 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 neighborhood in Redruth for about a decade and actually has a designated spot next to his house, but it is too narrow to be practical so he began parking outside a nearby bakery. He had verified with both the shop and the council that he wouldn't get a parking fine.

"I had finally reached a point 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 child on her aspirational journey to Japan one day. She's always wanted to go."

The Event and Aftermath

Then arrived that knock on the door on Saturday 1 November. "My neighbour was quite panicked. The police turned up and closed the zone off. We all had to stay in the houses because we can't get out without going past the hole. The highways people arrived, put the barrier up, and then they came out and put a additional barrier up surrounding it as well."

It is thought the opening may be an unfortunate legacy of a historic local mine, a abandoned mining site.

McKenzie believed he would be separated from his car for a few days. But that short time have now turned into weeks.

A Potential Solution

An conclusion may be in sight. The authorities has stated it will work with McKenzie to – temporarily – lift the fences to permit the car to be recovered. He commented: "They have agreed to assist my insurance company's retrieval crew and try to arrange a day and an suitable way of getting it out that ensures no anybody at risk."

The car has been significantly harmed and is probably to be declared a total loss. "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.

Authority Response

A spokesperson from the authorities said it felt sorry with McKenzie. But it said: "The ground giving way did not occur on council land. We have secured the location and informed the vehicle owner that we will organize to lift the fence to allow him to recover the car.

"As the land is unregistered, our safety measures will stay up until property ownership has been established, and we will persist to monitor the vicinity to guarantee public safety."