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The initial indication Malcolm McKenzie had of his predicament was when a person living nearby urgently banged on his front door and informed him his beloved Mini had plunged into a hole.

"I went out expecting a small pothole under a tire or something similar. But when I walked out to check it out, I realized, oh, that truly is a proper hole," he explained.

His automobile had dropped into a 3-metre wide gap, likely caused by a mineshaft collapse, and McKenzie has endured 25 days caught in a bureaucratic "nightmare" trying to determine how to extricate his car.

The Main Issue: Unclaimed Land

The hitch is that the land has no registered owner. The local council has stated it won't take down the fences cordoning off the hole until property rights 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 area in Redruth for about 10 years and in fact has a designated spot beside his house, but it is not wide enough to be useful so he started leaving his car outside a nearby bakery. He had checked with both the bakery and the local authority that he wouldn't get a parking fine.

"I'd finally felt like I was making progress, I had a reliable little car that was fuel-efficient and easy 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 always wanted to go."

The Incident and Aftermath

Then arrived that loud rapping on Saturday 1 November. "The person next door was very alarmed. The officers arrived and secured the area off. We all had to stay in the homes because we can't get out without passing by the hole. The highways people arrived, erected the barrier up, and then they returned and placed a additional barrier 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 thought he would be separated from his vehicle for a few days. But that short time have now become weeks.

A Possible Resolution

An conclusion may be in sight. The authorities has said it will cooperate with McKenzie to – briefly – remove the fences to allow the Mini to be removed. 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 car 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 ground beneath them," McKenzie remarked.

Authority Statement

A representative from the authorities said it felt sorry with McKenzie. But it added: "The ground giving way did not occur on public property. We have made the area safe and advised the vehicle owner that we will arrange to temporarily remove the fence to allow him to recover the vehicle.

"As the land is unregistered, our safety measures will stay up until property ownership has been determined, and we will continue to observe the vicinity to guarantee everyone's security."