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The initial sign the local man had of his situation was when a person living nearby urgently banged on his front door and told him his beloved Mini had fallen into a hole.

"I went out expecting a minor dip under a tire or something like that. But when I walked out to take a look, I understood, oh, that truly is a significant cavity," he explained.

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

The Core Problem: Unclaimed Land

The complication 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 a bit of a nightmare," said McKenzie, 36, a self-employed creative. "There's bureaucracy at every turn."

McKenzie has lived in the neighborhood in Redruth for about a decade and actually has a parking space next to his house, but it is too narrow to be useful so he started leaving his car outside a local bakery. He had checked with both the bakery and the council 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 fuel-efficient and simple to keep on the road. It signified I could at last 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 Event and Aftermath

Then came that loud rapping on Saturday 1 November. "The person next door was quite panicked. The police turned up and closed the zone off. We all had to stay in the homes because we can't get out without going past the collapse. The highways people arrived, erected the barrier up, and then they came out and placed a additional barrier up around it as well."

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

McKenzie believed he would be without his car for a short period. But days have now become weeks.

A Potential Solution

An conclusion may be in sight. The council has stated it will cooperate with McKenzie to – temporarily – lift the barriers to permit the Mini to be removed. He commented: "They have agreed to work with my insurance company's recovery team and try to arrange a day and an suitable way of extracting it that doesn't put anybody at risk."

The vehicle has been badly damaged and is probably to be declared a total loss. "On the bright side I can say my Mini went out in style – not everyone can claim their car was swallowed by the Earth itself," McKenzie noted.

Council Response

A spokesperson from the authorities expressed it sympathised with McKenzie. But it added: "The ground giving way did not occur on council land. We have made the area safe and advised the car owner that we will organize to temporarily remove the barrier to enable him to retrieve the vehicle.

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