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The initial sign Malcolm McKenzie received of his situation was when a person living nearby loudly knocked on his door and told him his cherished Mini had plunged into a opening.

"I went out anticipating a small pothole under a tire or something like that. But when I walked out to check it out, I realized, oh, that really is a significant cavity," he stated.

His vehicle had dropped into a 10-foot wide gap, likely caused by a collapsed mine shaft, and McKenzie has endured 25 days caught in a bureaucratic "difficult situation" trying to determine how to extricate his Mini.

The Main Problem: Unclaimed Land

The hitch is that the land isn't registered. The local council has said it won't take down the barriers blocking off the sinkhole until land ownership had been established. "It's a bit of a nightmare," said McKenzie, 36, a self-employed creative. "It's red tape everywhere."

McKenzie has lived in the neighborhood in Redruth for about a decade and in fact has a designated spot beside his house, but it is too narrow to be practical so he began parking outside a nearby bakery. He had verified with both the shop and the local authority that he would avoid receiving a ticket.

"I had finally reached a point like I was getting somewhere, I had a dependable little car that was economical and simple to keep on the road. It signified I could at last focus on trying to save up to take my daughter on her dream trip to Japan one day. She's constantly dreamed to go."

The Event and Aftermath

Then arrived that knock on the door on a Saturday in November. "My neighbour was quite panicked. The officers arrived and closed the area off. We all had to stay in the houses because we couldn't leave without passing by the hole. The road crew arrived, erected the barrier up, and then they came out and placed a additional barrier up surrounding it as well."

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

McKenzie believed he would be without his car for a short period. But that short time have now turned into weeks.

A Possible Solution

An end may be approaching. The council has stated it will work with McKenzie to – briefly – remove the fences to permit the car to be removed. He commented: "They are willing to assist my insurer's recovery team and try to schedule a date and an suitable way of extracting it that doesn't put anybody at danger."

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 style – not everyone can claim their vehicle was eaten by the ground beneath them," McKenzie noted.

Council Response

A representative from the local council expressed it felt sorry with McKenzie. But it said: "The ground giving way did not happen on council land. We have made the area safe and informed the car owner that we will arrange to temporarily remove the barrier to enable him to recover the car.

"Since no one owns the land, our barriers will stay up until property ownership has been determined, and we will continue to observe the surrounding area to guarantee public safety."