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The initial indication Malcolm McKenzie had of his situation was when a person living nearby loudly knocked on his door and told him his beloved Mini had plunged into a opening.

"I went out expecting a minor dip under a tire or something similar. But when I walked out to take a look, I realized, oh, that truly is a proper hole," he explained.

His automobile had descended into a 3-metre wide gap, possibly caused by a collapsed mine shaft, and McKenzie has spent 25 days stuck in a bureaucratic "difficult situation" trying to figure out how to retrieve his car.

The Main Issue: Unclaimed Land

The hitch is that the land has no registered owner. The authorities has said it can't remove the barriers blocking off the sinkhole until property rights had been confirmed. "It's quite a difficult situation," said McKenzie, 36, a self-employed designer. "It's red tape everywhere."

McKenzie has resided in the area in Redruth for about a decade and actually has a designated spot next to his house, but it is not wide enough to be practical so he began parking outside a local bakery. He had verified with both the shop and the local authority that he wouldn't get a ticket.

"I'd finally felt like I was getting somewhere, I had a reliable little car that was fuel-efficient 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 dream trip to Japan one day. She's constantly dreamed to go."

The Event and Consequences

Then arrived that knock on the door on a Saturday in November. "The person next door was quite panicked. The police turned up and closed the zone off. We all had to remain in the homes because we couldn't leave without going past the hole. The highways people arrived, erected the barrier up, and then they came out and placed a additional barrier up around it as well."

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

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

A Potential Solution

An end may be approaching. The authorities has stated it will cooperate with McKenzie to – briefly – lift the fences to permit the Mini to be recovered. He commented: "They are willing to assist my insurer's retrieval crew and try to schedule a date and an suitable way of getting it out that ensures no anybody at risk."

The car has been badly damaged and is probably to be written off. "At least I can say my Mini met its end in a memorable way – not everyone can say their vehicle was eaten by the Earth itself," McKenzie noted.

Council Response

A representative from the local council expressed it sympathised with McKenzie. But it said: "This collapse did not occur on public property. We have made the area safe and advised the car owner that we will arrange to temporarily remove the barrier to enable him to retrieve the car.

"As the land is unregistered, our safety measures will stay up until land ownership has been established, and we will persist to observe the vicinity to ensure everyone's security."