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The first indication Malcolm McKenzie had of his predicament was when a neighbor urgently banged on his door and informed him his beloved Mini had fallen into a hole.

"I stepped outside anticipating a minor dip under a wheel or something like that. But when I walked out to take a look, I understood, oh, that really is a proper hole," he explained.

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

The Main Issue: Unregistered Property

The hitch is that the land has no registered owner. The local council has said it can't remove the barriers blocking off the sinkhole until property rights had been confirmed. "It's quite a difficult situation," said McKenzie, 36, a self-employed designer. "There's bureaucracy at every turn."

McKenzie has lived in the area in Redruth for about a decade and actually has a parking space beside his house, but it is too narrow to be practical so he started leaving his car outside a nearby bakery. He had verified with both the shop and the council that he wouldn't get a parking fine.

"I had finally reached a point like I was getting somewhere, I had a dependable little car 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 child on her dream trip to Japan one day. She's constantly dreamed to go."

The Incident and Consequences

Then came that loud rapping on Saturday 1 November. "The person next door was quite panicked. The police arrived 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 highways people arrived, erected the fence up, and then they returned and put a additional barrier up around it as well."

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

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

A Potential Solution

An conclusion may be in sight. The authorities has stated it will cooperate with McKenzie to – temporarily – remove the fences to permit the Mini to be recovered. He said: "They have agreed to assist my insurer's retrieval crew and try to schedule a day and an suitable way of getting it out that doesn't put anybody at danger."

The vehicle has been badly damaged and is likely to be written off. "On the bright side I can say my Mini met its end in style – not everyone can claim their car was eaten by the Earth itself," McKenzie remarked.

Council Response

A spokesperson from the local council expressed it felt sorry with McKenzie. But it said: "This collapse did not happen on council land. We have secured the location and advised the vehicle owner that we will organize to temporarily remove the fence to allow him to retrieve the car.

"As the land is unregistered, our safety measures will stay up until land ownership has been determined, and we will persist to monitor the vicinity to ensure everyone's security."