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

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

His vehicle had dropped into a 10-foot wide gap, likely created by a collapsed mine shaft, and McKenzie has endured 25 days caught in a administrative "nightmare" trying to determine how to retrieve his car.

The Core Problem: Unclaimed Land

The complication is that the land isn't registered. The local council has said it can't remove the barriers cordoning off the hole until property rights had been established. "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 actually has a parking space beside his house, but it is too narrow to be practical so he began parking outside a local bakery. He had checked with both the bakery and the local authority that he would avoid receiving a parking fine.

"I'd finally felt like I was making progress, I had a dependable small vehicle that was fuel-efficient 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 dream trip to Japan someday. She's constantly dreamed to go."

The Incident and Aftermath

Then came that knock on the door on a Saturday in November. "The person next door was very alarmed. The officers turned up and secured the area off. We all had to remain in the houses because we couldn't leave without going past the hole. The road crew arrived, put the fence up, and then they returned and put a second fence up surrounding it as well."

It is believed the hole may be an unlucky remnant 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 Potential Solution

An conclusion may be in sight. The council has said it will work with McKenzie to – briefly – lift the fences to permit the car to be recovered. He commented: "They have agreed to assist my insurer's recovery team and try to arrange a date and an acceptable way of getting it out that ensures no anybody at risk."

The car has been significantly harmed and is likely to be declared a total loss. "At least I can say my Mini met its end in a memorable way – not everyone can say their car was eaten by the ground beneath them," McKenzie remarked.

Authority Statement

A spokesperson from the authorities expressed it felt sorry with McKenzie. But it said: "This collapse did not occur on council land. We have made the area safe and informed the car owner that we will organize to temporarily remove the barrier to enable him to retrieve the car.

"As the land is unregistered, our safety measures will remain in place until land ownership has been established, and we will persist to monitor the vicinity to guarantee everyone's security."