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The initial indication Malcolm McKenzie received of his situation was when a person living nearby loudly knocked on his front door and informed him his beloved Mini had fallen into a hole.

"I went out expecting a minor dip under a wheel or something similar. But when I walked out to take a look, I realized, oh, that really is a significant cavity," he stated.

His automobile had dropped into a 10-foot wide gap, likely caused by a collapsed mine shaft, and McKenzie has endured 25 days stuck in a administrative "nightmare" trying to determine how to retrieve his Mini.

The Main Problem: Unregistered Land

The hitch is that the land isn't registered. The authorities has said it won't take down the fences blocking off the hole until property rights had been established. "It's quite a difficult situation," said McKenzie, 36, a self-employed creative. "There's bureaucracy at every turn."

McKenzie has resided in the neighborhood in Redruth for about 10 years and in fact has a parking space next to his house, but it is not wide enough to be practical so he started leaving his car outside a nearby bakery. He had checked with both the bakery and the council that he would avoid receiving a ticket.

"I'd finally felt like I was making progress, I had a dependable little car that was fuel-efficient and simple to keep on the road. It meant I could at last focus on trying to save up to take my child on her dream trip to Japan one day. She's always wanted to go."

The Event and Aftermath

Then came that loud rapping on Saturday 1 November. "My neighbour was very alarmed. The officers arrived and secured the area off. We all had to remain in the houses because we couldn't leave without going past the hole. The road crew came out, erected the barrier up, and then they returned and put a additional barrier up around it as well."

It is thought the opening may be an unfortunate legacy of a historic local mine, a abandoned copper and tin mine.

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

A Possible Resolution

An end may be approaching. The council has stated it will cooperate with McKenzie to – briefly – lift the barriers to permit the Mini to be removed. He said: "They are willing to work with my insurer's retrieval crew and try to schedule a day and an acceptable way of getting it out that ensures no anybody at danger."

The car has been significantly harmed and is likely to be declared a total loss. "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 Statement

A spokesperson from the authorities said it felt sorry with McKenzie. But it said: "This collapse did not occur on public property. We have made the area safe and informed the car owner that we will organize to lift the fence to enable him to retrieve the car.

"Since no one owns the land, our barriers will stay up until land ownership has been established, and we will persist to observe the surrounding area to guarantee everyone's security."