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

"I stepped outside anticipating a small pothole under a wheel or something like that. But when I went out to take a look, I understood, oh, that really is a significant cavity," he stated.

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

The Core Problem: Unregistered Property

The hitch is that the property has no registered owner. The authorities has said it won't take down the fences cordoning off the hole until land ownership had been established. "It's a bit of a nightmare," said McKenzie, 36, a freelance designer. "It's red tape everywhere."

McKenzie has resided in the neighborhood in Redruth for about a decade and actually has a designated spot beside his house, but it is too narrow to be useful so he began parking outside a nearby bakery. He had checked with both the shop and the council that he would avoid receiving a parking fine.

"I had finally reached a point like I was making progress, I had a dependable small vehicle that was economical and simple to keep on the road. It signified I could finally focus on trying to put money aside to take my daughter on her aspirational journey to Japan someday. She's constantly dreamed to go."

The Incident and Aftermath

Then arrived that loud rapping on a Saturday in November. "My neighbour was very alarmed. The officers turned up and closed the zone off. We all had to stay in the homes because we couldn't leave without passing by the hole. The highways people came out, erected the fence up, and then they came out and put a second fence up around it as well."

It is believed the hole may be an unlucky legacy of a historic local mine, a disused copper and tin mine.

McKenzie believed he would be without his vehicle for a few days. But that short time have now turned into weeks.

A Possible Resolution

An end may be approaching. The authorities has said it will work with McKenzie to – temporarily – lift the fences to permit the Mini to be recovered. He said: "They are willing to assist my insurance company's recovery team and try to arrange a day and an acceptable way of extracting it that ensures no anybody at risk."

The car has been badly damaged and is probably to be written off. "At least I can say my Mini met its end in a memorable way – not everyone can say their vehicle was swallowed by the ground beneath them," McKenzie remarked.

Council Statement

A representative from the local council said it sympathised with McKenzie. But it added: "The ground giving way did not happen on council land. We have made the area safe and informed the vehicle owner that we will arrange to lift the fence to enable him to recover the vehicle.

"As the land is unregistered, our barriers will remain in place until property ownership has been determined, and we will continue to observe the vicinity to ensure everyone's security."