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The first sign Malcolm McKenzie received of his situation was when a person living nearby urgently banged on his front door and informed him his beloved Mini had plunged into a hole.

"I stepped outside expecting a small pothole under a wheel or something similar. But when I went out to take a look, I understood, oh, that truly is a significant cavity," he explained.

His vehicle had dropped into a 10-foot wide opening, possibly caused by a mineshaft collapse, and McKenzie has spent 25 days stuck in a bureaucratic "nightmare" trying to figure out how to retrieve his Mini.

The Main Problem: Unclaimed Property

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

McKenzie has resided 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 began parking outside a nearby bakery. He had checked with both the bakery and the local authority that he wouldn't get 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 meant I could at last focus on trying to put money aside to take my child on her dream trip to Japan one day. She's always wanted to go."

The Incident and Consequences

Then arrived that loud rapping on Saturday 1 November. "The person next door was quite panicked. The officers turned up and secured the zone off. We all had to remain in the houses because we couldn't leave without passing by the collapse. The highways people came out, put the barrier up, and then they came out and placed a second fence up surrounding it as well."

It is thought the hole may be an unlucky remnant of Pednandrea Mine, a abandoned mining site.

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

A Possible Solution

An conclusion may be approaching. The authorities has said it will cooperate with McKenzie to – temporarily – lift the barriers to allow the car to be removed. He commented: "They are willing to assist my insurance company'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 significantly harmed and is probably to be written off. "At least I can say my Mini went out in a memorable way – not everyone can claim their vehicle was swallowed by the ground beneath them," McKenzie noted.

Council Statement

A representative from the authorities expressed it sympathised with McKenzie. But it added: "This collapse did not happen on public property. We have secured the location and advised 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 safety measures will stay up until land ownership has been determined, and we will persist to monitor the surrounding area to ensure everyone's security."