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The initial indication the local man had of his predicament was when a neighbor urgently banged on his front door and informed him his cherished Mini had plunged into a hole.

"I went out anticipating a minor dip under a wheel or something like that. But when I went out to take a look, I understood, oh, that truly is a significant cavity," he stated.

His vehicle had dropped into a 10-foot wide gap, likely created by a collapsed mine shaft, and McKenzie has endured 25 days stuck in a bureaucratic "nightmare" trying to figure out how to extricate his car.

The Core Issue: Unclaimed Property

The hitch is that the land isn't registered. The local council has stated it can't remove the fences blocking off the sinkhole until property rights had been established. "It's a bit of a nightmare," said McKenzie, 36, a freelance creative. "It's red tape everywhere."

McKenzie has resided in the neighborhood in Redruth for about 10 years and actually has a parking space next to his house, but it is not wide enough to be practical 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 ticket.

"I'd finally felt like I was getting somewhere, I had a dependable small vehicle that was economical and simple to keep on the road. It meant I could finally focus on trying to put money aside to take my child on her dream trip to Japan someday. She's constantly dreamed to go."

The Incident and Consequences

Then came that loud rapping on a Saturday in November. "The person next door was very alarmed. The officers turned up and secured the zone off. We all had to stay in the homes because we couldn't leave without going past the collapse. The highways people came out, erected the barrier up, and then they came out and put a second fence up around it as well."

It is thought the opening may be an unfortunate legacy 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 Possible Solution

An conclusion may be approaching. The authorities has stated it will work with McKenzie to – temporarily – remove the barriers to permit the car to be removed. He said: "They have agreed to work with my insurer's recovery team and try to arrange a date and an suitable way of getting it out that doesn't put anybody at danger."

The vehicle has been significantly harmed and is probably to be declared a total loss. "At least I can say my Mini went out in a memorable way – not everyone can say their vehicle was swallowed by the ground beneath them," McKenzie remarked.

Council Statement

A representative from the local council expressed it felt sorry with McKenzie. But it added: "This collapse did not happen on council land. We have made the area safe and informed the vehicle owner that we will organize to temporarily remove the fence to allow him to retrieve the vehicle.

"As the land is unregistered, our barriers will stay up until property ownership has been determined, and we will continue to observe the surrounding area to ensure public safety."