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The initial sign the local man received of his predicament was when a person living nearby loudly knocked on his front door and told 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 walked out to take a look, I realized, oh, that truly is a significant cavity," he explained.

His automobile had dropped into a 3-metre wide opening, likely caused by a collapsed mine shaft, and McKenzie has endured 25 days stuck in a administrative "difficult situation" trying to figure out how to retrieve his car.

The Main Problem: Unregistered Property

The hitch is that the land has no registered owner. The authorities has stated it won't take down the fences blocking off the sinkhole 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 neighborhood in Redruth for about 10 years 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 nearby bakery. He had checked 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 economical and easy to keep on the road. It meant I could finally 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 Aftermath

Then came that knock on the door on Saturday 1 November. "My neighbour was quite panicked. The officers arrived and closed the zone off. We all had to stay in the houses because we couldn't leave without going past the hole. The highways people arrived, put the barrier up, and then they returned and put a second fence up surrounding it as well."

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

McKenzie thought he would be without his car for a short period. But that short time have now become weeks.

A Potential Solution

An end may be in sight. The council has said it will cooperate with McKenzie to – briefly – lift the barriers to allow the car to be removed. He said: "They have agreed to assist my insurance company's recovery team and try to schedule a date and an suitable way of getting it out that doesn't put anybody at risk."

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

Authority Statement

A representative from the authorities said it sympathised with McKenzie. But it said: "This collapse did not happen on council land. We have made the area safe and advised the car owner that we will arrange to temporarily remove the fence to allow him to retrieve the car.

"Since no one owns the land, our barriers will remain in place until property ownership has been determined, and we will continue to observe the vicinity to ensure everyone's security."