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The first indication Malcolm McKenzie had of his situation was when a neighbor urgently banged on his door and informed him his cherished Mini had fallen into a opening.

"I went out expecting a minor dip under a wheel or something like that. But when I went out to take a look, I realized, oh, that really 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 stuck in a bureaucratic "difficult situation" trying to determine how to retrieve his car.

The Core Issue: Unclaimed Land

The hitch is that the property has no registered owner. The local council has stated it won't take down the fences blocking off the sinkhole until land ownership had been confirmed. "It's a bit of a nightmare," said McKenzie, 36, a self-employed designer. "There's bureaucracy at every turn."

McKenzie has lived in the area in Redruth for about 10 years and in fact has a designated spot next to his house, but it is not wide enough to be practical so he started leaving his car outside a nearby bakery. He had verified with both the shop and the local authority that he would avoid receiving a parking fine.

"I'd finally felt 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 always wanted to go."

The Incident and Aftermath

Then arrived that loud rapping on Saturday 1 November. "My neighbour was quite panicked. The officers turned up and secured the zone off. We all had to remain in the houses because we can't get out without passing by the collapse. The highways people came out, put the barrier up, and then they came out and put a second fence up around it as well."

It is thought the opening may be an unlucky legacy of Pednandrea Mine, a disused copper and tin mine.

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

A Potential Resolution

An conclusion may be in sight. The authorities has said it will work with McKenzie to – briefly – lift the fences to allow the car to be recovered. He commented: "They are willing to work with my insurance company's recovery team and try to schedule a date and an acceptable way of extracting it that doesn't put anybody at risk."

The car has been badly damaged and is probably to be written off. "On the bright side I can say my Mini met its end in style – not everyone can claim their vehicle was swallowed by the Earth itself," McKenzie remarked.

Council Statement

A spokesperson from the local council said it sympathised with McKenzie. But it added: "This collapse did not happen on public property. We have made the area safe and advised the car owner that we will arrange to temporarily remove the fence to allow him to retrieve the vehicle.

"Since no one owns the land, our safety measures will remain in place until property ownership has been established, and we will continue to monitor the vicinity to ensure everyone's security."