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The initial sign the local man had of his situation was when a person living nearby urgently banged on his front door and informed him his cherished Mini had fallen into a hole.

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

His vehicle had descended into a 3-metre wide opening, possibly caused by a mineshaft collapse, and McKenzie has endured 25 days caught in a bureaucratic "nightmare" trying to determine how to retrieve his car.

The Core Issue: Unclaimed Land

The hitch is that the land isn't registered. The authorities has stated it won't take down the fences cordoning off the hole until land ownership 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 10 years and in fact has a designated spot beside his house, but it is not wide enough to be useful so he began parking outside a local bakery. He had checked with both the shop and the local authority that he wouldn't get a parking fine.

"I'd finally felt like I was getting somewhere, I had a reliable little car 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 dream trip to Japan someday. She's constantly dreamed to go."

The Incident and Aftermath

Then came that loud rapping on Saturday 1 November. "My neighbour was quite panicked. The police arrived and closed the zone off. We all had to stay in the homes because we couldn't leave without going past the hole. The road crew came out, erected the fence up, and then they came out and put a second fence up around it as well."

It is thought the opening may be an unlucky legacy of Pednandrea Mine, a abandoned copper and tin mine.

McKenzie thought he would be separated from his car for a few days. But that short time have now become weeks.

A Potential Resolution

An end may be approaching. The council has said it will work with McKenzie to – temporarily – lift the fences to permit the Mini to be recovered. He said: "They are willing to work with my insurance company's recovery team and try to arrange a day and an suitable way of extracting it that doesn't put anybody at risk."

The car has been badly damaged and is likely to be written off. "On the bright side I can say my Mini met its end in style – not everyone can say their car was eaten by the Earth itself," McKenzie remarked.

Authority Response

A representative from the authorities said it felt sorry with McKenzie. But it said: "The ground giving way did not occur on council land. We have secured the location and informed the car owner that we will organize to temporarily remove the fence to allow him to recover the vehicle.

"As the land is unregistered, our safety measures will remain in place until land ownership has been established, and we will continue to monitor the vicinity to ensure public safety."