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The initial sign the local man received of his situation was when a neighbor loudly knocked on his door and informed him his beloved Mini had fallen into a hole.

"I stepped outside expecting a minor dip under a tire or something similar. But when I walked out to check it out, I understood, oh, that really is a proper hole," he explained.

His vehicle had dropped into a 3-metre wide gap, possibly created by a collapsed mine shaft, and McKenzie has endured 25 days caught in a bureaucratic "difficult situation" trying to determine how to extricate his car.

The Main Problem: Unclaimed Land

The hitch is that the property has no registered owner. The authorities has stated it won't take down the barriers cordoning off the hole 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 not wide enough to be useful so he started leaving his car outside a nearby bakery. He had checked with both the bakery and the local authority that he wouldn't get a parking fine.

"I had finally reached a point like I was making progress, I had a reliable small vehicle that was economical and easy to keep on the road. It meant I could finally focus on trying to save up to take my child on her aspirational journey to Japan one day. She's always wanted to go."

The Incident and Consequences

Then arrived that loud rapping on Saturday 1 November. "The person next door was quite panicked. The officers turned up and closed the area off. We all had to stay in the houses because we can't get out without going past the collapse. The road crew came out, put the fence up, and then they returned and put a additional barrier up around it as well."

It is believed the hole may be an unlucky remnant of Pednandrea Mine, a abandoned mining site.

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

A Potential Solution

An conclusion may be approaching. The council has stated it will cooperate with McKenzie to – briefly – remove the barriers to allow the Mini to be removed. He said: "They are willing to assist my insurer's recovery team and try to schedule a date and an suitable way of getting it out that doesn't put anybody at danger."

The car has been significantly harmed and is likely to be written off. "At least I can say my Mini met its end in a memorable way – not everyone can claim their car was swallowed by the Earth itself," McKenzie remarked.

Authority Response

A spokesperson from the authorities expressed it felt sorry with McKenzie. But it added: "This collapse did not occur on council land. We have made the area safe and advised the car owner that we will arrange to lift the barrier to allow him to recover the vehicle.

"As the land is unregistered, our safety measures will stay up until property ownership has been determined, and we will continue to monitor the vicinity to ensure everyone's security."