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The first indication Malcolm McKenzie received of his situation was when a person living nearby loudly knocked on his front door and told him his cherished Mini had plunged into a opening.

"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 truly is a proper hole," he explained.

His vehicle had descended into a 3-metre wide gap, possibly created by a mineshaft collapse, and McKenzie has spent 25 days stuck in a bureaucratic "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 barriers cordoning off the sinkhole until property rights had been established. "It's a bit of a nightmare," said McKenzie, 36, a self-employed designer. "It's red tape everywhere."

McKenzie has lived in the area in Redruth for about a decade and in fact has a parking space beside his house, but it is not wide enough to be useful so he began parking outside a local bakery. He had checked with both the bakery and the council that he would avoid receiving a ticket.

"I had finally reached a point 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 save up to take my daughter on her dream trip to Japan one day. She's always wanted to go."

The Event and Aftermath

Then arrived that loud rapping on Saturday 1 November. "My neighbour was quite panicked. The officers arrived and closed the area off. We all had to remain in the houses because we can't get out without going past the hole. The road crew arrived, put the fence up, and then they returned and put a second fence up around it as well."

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

McKenzie believed he would be without his car for a few days. But days have now become weeks.

A Potential Resolution

An conclusion may be approaching. The council has said it will cooperate with McKenzie to – briefly – remove the fences to allow the Mini to be recovered. He said: "They have agreed to work with my insurer's recovery team and try to schedule a day and an suitable way of extracting it that doesn't put anybody at risk."

The vehicle has been significantly harmed and is probably to be declared a total loss. "On the bright side I can say my Mini met its end in style – not everyone can claim their vehicle was swallowed by the ground beneath them," McKenzie remarked.

Council Response

A representative from the authorities expressed 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 lift the fence to enable him to recover 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 ensure everyone's security."