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The first sign the local man received of his predicament was when a neighbor urgently banged on his front door and told him his beloved Mini had plunged into a opening.

"I went out expecting a small pothole under a tire or something similar. But when I walked out to check it out, I realized, oh, that truly is a significant cavity," he explained.

His automobile had descended into a 10-foot wide gap, possibly caused by a mineshaft collapse, and McKenzie has endured 25 days stuck in a bureaucratic "difficult situation" trying to determine how to extricate his car.

The Main Issue: Unclaimed Land

The hitch is that the land has no registered owner. The local council has said it can't remove the barriers blocking 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 lived in the area in Redruth for about 10 years and in fact has a designated spot next to his house, but it is too narrow to be useful so he began parking outside a nearby bakery. He had verified 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 reliable little car that was economical and easy to keep on the road. It meant I could finally focus on trying to put money aside to take my child on her aspirational journey to Japan someday. She's constantly dreamed to go."

The Event and Consequences

Then came that knock on the door on a Saturday in November. "The person next door was quite panicked. The officers turned up and secured the area off. We all had to stay in the houses because we can't get out without passing by the collapse. The highways people arrived, erected 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 unfortunate remnant of a historic local mine, a abandoned mining site.

McKenzie believed he would be without his car for a few days. But days have now become weeks.

A Potential Resolution

An end may be approaching. The council has said it will cooperate with McKenzie to – temporarily – remove the barriers to allow the Mini to be recovered. He said: "They are willing to assist my insurer's recovery team and try to arrange a date and an suitable way of extracting it that ensures no anybody at risk."

The vehicle has been badly damaged and is likely to be declared a total loss. "On the bright side I can say my Mini went out in a memorable way – not everyone can say their vehicle was eaten by the Earth itself," McKenzie noted.

Council Response

A spokesperson from the local council expressed it sympathised with McKenzie. But it said: "This collapse did not occur on public property. We have secured the location and informed the vehicle owner that we will arrange to temporarily remove the barrier to enable him to recover the vehicle.

"As the land is unregistered, our barriers will stay up until land ownership has been established, and we will persist to monitor the vicinity to guarantee everyone's security."