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The first indication Malcolm McKenzie received of his situation was when a neighbor loudly knocked on his front door and informed him his beloved Mini had fallen into a opening.

"I went out expecting a minor dip under a tire or something similar. But when I went out to take a look, I realized, oh, that truly is a proper hole," he explained.

His vehicle had descended into a 3-metre wide opening, possibly caused by a collapsed mine shaft, and McKenzie has spent 25 days caught in a administrative "nightmare" trying to figure out how to extricate his car.

The Core Issue: Unclaimed Land

The complication is that the land isn't registered. The local council has stated it can't remove the barriers cordoning off the sinkhole until property rights had been established. "It's a bit of a nightmare," said McKenzie, 36, a self-employed designer. "There's bureaucracy at every turn."

McKenzie has resided in the neighborhood in Redruth for about 10 years and actually has a designated spot beside his house, but it is too narrow to be useful so he began parking outside a local bakery. He had checked with both the bakery and the council that he wouldn't get a ticket.

"I'd finally felt like I was getting somewhere, I had a reliable 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 daughter on her dream trip to Japan one day. She's always wanted to go."

The Event and Aftermath

Then came that knock on the door on Saturday 1 November. "The person next door was very alarmed. The police turned up and secured the zone off. We all had to remain in the homes because we couldn't leave without going past the hole. The highways people arrived, put the barrier up, and then they came out and put a second fence up around it as well."

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

McKenzie believed he would be separated from his car for a short period. But days have now turned into weeks.

A Potential Resolution

An end may be in sight. The council has said it will cooperate with McKenzie to – temporarily – remove the barriers to allow the Mini to be removed. He commented: "They are willing to assist my insurance company's recovery team and try to schedule a day and an acceptable way of extracting it 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 met its end in style – not everyone can claim their car was swallowed by the ground beneath them," McKenzie noted.

Council Response

A representative from the local council expressed it sympathised with McKenzie. But it added: "This collapse did not occur on public property. We have secured the location and informed the vehicle owner that we will arrange to temporarily remove the fence to enable him to retrieve the vehicle.

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