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The initial indication Malcolm McKenzie had of his situation was when a person living nearby loudly knocked on his door and told him his cherished Mini had fallen into a opening.

"I stepped outside expecting a minor dip under a wheel or something like that. But when I went out to take a look, I understood, oh, that really is a proper hole," he stated.

His vehicle had descended into a 3-metre wide opening, likely created by a mineshaft collapse, and McKenzie has endured 25 days stuck in a bureaucratic "difficult situation" trying to figure out how to extricate his car.

The Core Problem: Unclaimed Property

The complication is that the land has no registered owner. The authorities has stated it won't take down the fences cordoning off the hole until property rights had been confirmed. "It's quite a difficult situation," said McKenzie, 36, a self-employed designer. "There's bureaucracy at every turn."

McKenzie has resided in the area in Redruth for about a decade and in fact has a designated spot next to his house, but it is not wide enough to be useful so he started leaving his car outside a nearby bakery. He had verified 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 economical and easy to keep on the road. It meant I could finally focus on trying to put money aside to take my daughter on her aspirational journey to Japan one day. She's always wanted to go."

The Incident and Aftermath

Then came that knock on the door on a Saturday in November. "My neighbour was very alarmed. The officers turned up and closed the area off. We all had to stay in the homes because we can't get out without passing by the collapse. The highways people arrived, erected the fence up, and then they returned and put a additional barrier up around it as well."

It is thought the opening may be an unlucky remnant of a historic local mine, a disused copper and tin mine.

McKenzie thought he would be separated from his vehicle for a short period. But days have now become weeks.

A Possible Solution

An end may be approaching. The authorities has said it will work with McKenzie to – briefly – remove the fences to allow the car to be recovered. He commented: "They are willing to assist my insurer's recovery team and try to schedule a day and an acceptable way of getting it out that ensures no anybody at risk."

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 Earth itself," McKenzie noted.

Authority Response

A spokesperson from the authorities said it felt sorry 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 arrange to temporarily remove the barrier to allow him to retrieve the car.

"Since no one owns the land, our safety measures will remain in place until land ownership has been determined, and we will continue to monitor the surrounding area to guarantee everyone's security."