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The initial indication the local man received of his predicament 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 wheel or something similar. But when I walked out to check it out, I understood, oh, that really is a significant cavity," he stated.

His vehicle had descended into a 10-foot wide opening, possibly caused by a collapsed mine shaft, and McKenzie has spent 25 days stuck in a administrative "difficult situation" trying to figure out how to retrieve his car.

The Core Problem: Unclaimed Land

The complication is that the land isn't registered. The authorities has stated it won't take down the fences blocking off the sinkhole until land ownership had been established. "It's quite a difficult situation," said McKenzie, 36, a freelance designer. "There's bureaucracy at every turn."

McKenzie has lived in the area in Redruth for about a decade and in fact has a designated spot next to his house, but it is too narrow to be useful so he started leaving his car 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 dependable little car that was fuel-efficient and easy to keep on the road. It meant I could finally focus on trying to save up to take my child on her dream trip to Japan someday. She's constantly dreamed to go."

The Event and Consequences

Then arrived that loud rapping on a Saturday in November. "The person next door was very alarmed. The police turned up and closed 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 placed a additional barrier up surrounding it as well."

It is believed the hole may be an unlucky legacy of a historic local mine, a abandoned mining site.

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

A Potential Solution

An end may be approaching. The authorities has said it will work with McKenzie to – temporarily – lift the barriers to permit the Mini to be recovered. He said: "They are willing to assist my insurer's recovery team and try to arrange a day and an acceptable way of getting it out that ensures no anybody at danger."

The vehicle has been badly damaged and is likely to be declared a total loss. "At least I can say my Mini went out in style – not everyone can say their car was eaten by the Earth itself," McKenzie remarked.

Council Statement

A spokesperson from the local council said it sympathised with McKenzie. But it said: "The ground giving way did not happen on council land. We have secured the location and advised the vehicle owner that we will organize to temporarily remove the barrier to allow him to recover the car.

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