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

"I went out expecting a small pothole under a tire or something similar. But when I walked out to take a look, I realized, oh, that truly is a proper hole," he explained.

His vehicle had descended into a 3-metre wide gap, likely created by a collapsed mine shaft, and McKenzie has spent 25 days caught in a bureaucratic "difficult situation" trying to figure out how to extricate his car.

The Core Problem: Unregistered Property

The hitch is that the property isn't registered. The authorities has stated it won't take down the fences cordoning off the sinkhole until land ownership had been confirmed. "It's a bit of a nightmare," said McKenzie, 36, a freelance creative. "It's red tape everywhere."

McKenzie has lived in the neighborhood in Redruth for about 10 years and actually has a parking space beside his house, but it is not wide enough to be useful so he started leaving his car outside a nearby bakery. He had checked with both the bakery and the council that he wouldn't get a ticket.

"I'd finally felt like I was getting somewhere, I had a reliable little car that was economical and simple to keep on the road. It signified I could finally focus on trying to save up to take my daughter on her aspirational journey to Japan someday. She's constantly dreamed to go."

The Incident and Consequences

Then came that knock on the door on Saturday 1 November. "The person next door was quite panicked. The officers arrived and secured the area off. We all had to stay in the homes because we couldn't leave without passing by the collapse. The road crew arrived, put the barrier up, and then they returned and placed a second fence up surrounding it as well."

It is thought the hole may be an unfortunate remnant of Pednandrea Mine, a abandoned mining site.

McKenzie thought he would be without his vehicle for a short period. But days have now turned into weeks.

A Possible Solution

An end may be approaching. The council has said it will cooperate with McKenzie to – temporarily – lift the barriers to permit the Mini to be recovered. He commented: "They have agreed to work with my insurer's retrieval crew and try to schedule a day and an acceptable way of getting it out that ensures no anybody at danger."

The car has been badly damaged 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 say their car was swallowed by the Earth itself," McKenzie noted.

Council Response

A spokesperson from the authorities expressed it felt sorry with McKenzie. But it said: "This collapse did not occur on council land. We have secured the location and advised the car owner that we will organize to lift the barrier to allow him to recover the car.

"As the land is unregistered, our safety measures will stay up until property ownership has been established, and we will continue to observe the vicinity to ensure everyone's security."