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The first sign the local man had of his predicament was when a person living nearby 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 walked out to take a look, I realized, oh, that really is a significant cavity," he stated.

His automobile had descended into a 10-foot wide gap, possibly created by a mineshaft collapse, and McKenzie has endured 25 days stuck in a bureaucratic "difficult situation" trying to determine how to extricate his car.

The Core Issue: Unclaimed Property

The hitch is that the property has no registered owner. The authorities has said it can't remove the barriers blocking off the hole until land ownership had been established. "It's quite a difficult situation," said McKenzie, 36, a self-employed creative. "It's red tape everywhere."

McKenzie has resided in the neighborhood in Redruth for about a decade and in fact has a designated spot beside his house, but it is too narrow to be useful so he began parking outside a local bakery. He had checked with both the bakery and the council that he wouldn't get a parking fine.

"I'd finally felt 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 dream trip to Japan one day. She's always wanted to go."

The Incident and Aftermath

Then arrived 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 homes because we can't get out without going past the hole. The highways people came out, put the barrier up, and then they returned and put a additional barrier up around it as well."

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

McKenzie believed he would be separated from his car for a few days. But days have now become weeks.

A Possible Resolution

An end may be approaching. The council has stated it will work with McKenzie to – temporarily – lift the fences to permit the Mini to be removed. He said: "They have agreed to assist my insurer'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 significantly harmed and is probably to be declared a total loss. "On the bright side I can say my Mini went out in a memorable way – not everyone can claim their car was swallowed by the Earth itself," McKenzie remarked.

Council Response

A spokesperson 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 informed the car owner that we will organize to lift the barrier to enable him to recover the car.

"As the land is unregistered, our barriers will remain in place until land ownership has been established, and we will persist to monitor the surrounding area to guarantee public safety."