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The initial sign the local man had of his situation was when a neighbor urgently banged on his front door and told him his beloved Mini had plunged into a hole.

"I went out expecting a minor dip 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 explained.

His automobile had dropped into a 3-metre wide gap, likely created by a mineshaft collapse, and McKenzie has spent 25 days caught in a administrative "difficult situation" trying to figure out how to retrieve his Mini.

The Core Issue: Unclaimed Land

The hitch is that the property has no registered owner. The local council has stated it can't remove the fences blocking off the hole until land ownership had been established. "It's a bit of a nightmare," said McKenzie, 36, a self-employed designer. "It's red tape everywhere."

McKenzie has resided in the neighborhood 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 useful so he started leaving his car outside a nearby bakery. He had verified with both the bakery and the local authority that he wouldn't get a parking fine.

"I'd finally felt like I was making progress, I had a dependable little car that was economical and easy to keep on the road. It meant I could at last focus on trying to put money aside to take my child on her aspirational journey to Japan someday. She's always wanted to go."

The Event and Consequences

Then came that loud rapping on a Saturday in November. "My neighbour was quite panicked. The officers arrived and closed the zone off. We all had to stay in the homes because we can't get out without passing by the hole. The highways people arrived, erected the fence up, and then they came out and put a additional barrier up surrounding it as well."

It is thought the hole may be an unlucky legacy of Pednandrea Mine, a disused mining site.

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

A Potential Solution

An end may be in sight. The authorities has stated it will work with McKenzie to – briefly – remove the barriers to permit the Mini to be removed. He said: "They are willing to assist my insurer's recovery team and try to arrange a day and an suitable way of extracting it that doesn't put anybody at danger."

The car has been significantly harmed and is probably to be written off. "At least I can say my Mini went out in style – not everyone can say their vehicle was swallowed by the Earth itself," McKenzie remarked.

Authority Response

A representative from the authorities said it felt sorry with McKenzie. But it said: "The ground giving way did not happen on public property. We have made the area safe and informed the vehicle owner that we will arrange to temporarily remove the fence to allow him to retrieve the vehicle.

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