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The first sign Malcolm McKenzie received of his situation was when a person living nearby loudly knocked on his door and told him his cherished Mini had plunged into a opening.

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

His vehicle had descended into a 10-foot wide opening, possibly caused by a collapsed mine shaft, and McKenzie has spent 25 days stuck in a bureaucratic "nightmare" trying to determine how to extricate his car.

The Core Problem: Unclaimed Property

The complication is that the land has no registered owner. The authorities has said 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 designer. "There's bureaucracy at every turn."

McKenzie has resided in the area in Redruth for about 10 years and actually has a parking space beside his house, but it is too narrow to be useful so he began parking outside a nearby bakery. He had checked with both the shop and the council that he would avoid receiving a ticket.

"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 finally focus on trying to put money aside to take my daughter on her dream trip to Japan someday. She's always wanted to go."

The Incident and Consequences

Then came that loud rapping on a Saturday in November. "My neighbour was very alarmed. The officers turned up and closed the area off. We all had to remain in the houses because we couldn't leave without going past the hole. The highways people came out, erected the fence up, and then they returned and placed a additional barrier up surrounding it as well."

It is believed the opening may be an unlucky remnant of a historic local mine, a abandoned mining site.

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

A Potential Solution

An end may be in sight. The council has said it will work with McKenzie to – briefly – lift the barriers to allow the Mini to be recovered. He said: "They have agreed to work with my insurer's recovery team 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 style – not everyone can claim their car was eaten by the Earth itself," McKenzie remarked.

Authority Statement

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

"As the land is unregistered, our barriers will stay up until property ownership has been determined, and we will persist to monitor the surrounding area to ensure everyone's security."