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The first sign Malcolm McKenzie received of his predicament was when a person living nearby loudly knocked on his door and told him his cherished Mini had plunged into a hole.

"I went out anticipating a minor dip under a wheel or something like that. But when I went out to check it out, I understood, oh, that really is a significant cavity," he explained.

His automobile had dropped into a 3-metre wide gap, possibly caused by a mineshaft collapse, and McKenzie has endured 25 days stuck in a bureaucratic "nightmare" trying to figure out how to retrieve his Mini.

The Core Issue: Unclaimed Land

The hitch is that the property isn't registered. The authorities has said it can't remove the fences cordoning off the sinkhole until land ownership had been confirmed. "It's quite a difficult situation," said McKenzie, 36, a self-employed creative. "It's red tape everywhere."

McKenzie has resided in the area in Redruth for about a decade and in fact has a parking space next to his house, but it is too narrow to be useful so he started leaving his car outside a local 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 reliable small vehicle that was economical and easy to keep on the road. It meant I could at last focus on trying to save up to take my child on her aspirational journey to Japan someday. She's constantly dreamed to go."

The Event and Aftermath

Then arrived that knock on the door on Saturday 1 November. "The person next door was very alarmed. The officers turned up and closed the zone off. We all had to stay in the homes because we can't get out without going past the collapse. The road crew came out, erected the fence up, and then they came out and put a additional barrier up surrounding it as well."

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

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

A Potential Resolution

An conclusion may be in sight. The authorities has said it will work with McKenzie to – temporarily – lift the barriers to permit the Mini to be recovered. He said: "They have agreed to assist my insurance company's recovery team and try to arrange a day and an suitable way of extracting it that ensures no anybody at danger."

The car has been significantly harmed and is likely to be written off. "At least I can say my Mini went out in a memorable way – not everyone can say their car was swallowed by the ground beneath them," McKenzie remarked.

Authority Statement

A spokesperson from the local council expressed it sympathised with McKenzie. But it added: "The ground giving way did not occur on public property. We have made the area safe and advised the car owner that we will arrange to lift 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 established, and we will continue to observe the vicinity to ensure public safety."