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The first sign the local man had of his predicament was when a neighbor urgently banged on his door and informed him his cherished Mini had fallen into a opening.

"I stepped outside anticipating a minor dip under a wheel or something like that. But when I went out to check it out, I realized, oh, that really is a proper hole," he stated.

His vehicle had dropped into a 3-metre wide opening, likely caused by a collapsed mine shaft, and McKenzie has spent 25 days caught in a bureaucratic "difficult situation" trying to determine how to extricate his Mini.

The Main Issue: Unregistered Land

The hitch is that the property isn't registered. The authorities has stated it won't take down the fences cordoning off the sinkhole until property rights had been confirmed. "It's a bit of a nightmare," said McKenzie, 36, a freelance creative. "It's red tape everywhere."

McKenzie has lived in the area in Redruth for about a decade and in fact has a designated spot next to his house, but it is not wide enough to be useful so he started leaving his car outside a local bakery. He had checked with both the shop and the council that he would avoid receiving a parking fine.

"I had finally reached a point like I was getting somewhere, I had a dependable small vehicle that was fuel-efficient and simple to keep on the road. It signified I could finally focus on trying to save up to take my child on her aspirational journey to Japan someday. She's constantly dreamed to go."

The Incident and Consequences

Then arrived that knock on the door on Saturday 1 November. "My neighbour was quite panicked. The police turned up and secured the zone off. We all had to stay in the homes because we couldn't leave without going past the collapse. The road crew came out, put the barrier up, and then they came out and put a additional barrier up surrounding it as well."

It is believed the hole may be an unfortunate legacy of a historic local mine, a disused copper and tin mine.

McKenzie thought he would be separated from his vehicle for a few days. But days have now become weeks.

A Possible Resolution

An conclusion may be in sight. The council has said it will work with McKenzie to – briefly – remove the barriers to permit the Mini to be removed. He commented: "They are willing to work with my insurance company's recovery team and try to schedule a day and an suitable way of getting it out that doesn't put anybody at risk."

The vehicle has been significantly harmed and is likely to be written off. "On the bright side I can say my Mini went out in a memorable way – not everyone can claim their car was swallowed by the ground beneath them," McKenzie noted.

Authority Response

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

"Since no one owns the land, our safety measures will remain in place until land ownership has been established, and we will continue to monitor the surrounding area to ensure everyone's security."