🔗 Share this article

The initial indication the local man received of his situation was when a person living nearby loudly knocked on his door and informed him his beloved Mini had fallen into a opening.

"I went out anticipating a minor dip under a wheel or something similar. But when I walked out to take a look, I understood, oh, that truly is a significant cavity," he explained.

His automobile had descended into a 10-foot wide gap, possibly created by a mineshaft collapse, and McKenzie has endured 25 days stuck in a administrative "nightmare" trying to figure out how to retrieve his car.

The Main Problem: Unregistered Property

The complication is that the land isn't registered. The authorities has said it won't take down the fences cordoning off the sinkhole until property rights had been confirmed. "It's quite a difficult situation," said McKenzie, 36, a freelance creative. "There's bureaucracy at every turn."

McKenzie has lived in the neighborhood in Redruth for about a decade and in fact has a designated spot next to his house, but it is too narrow to be useful so he began parking outside a nearby bakery. He had verified with both the bakery and the local authority that he would avoid receiving a parking fine.

"I'd finally felt like I was getting somewhere, I had a dependable small vehicle that was fuel-efficient and easy to keep on the road. It meant I could finally focus on trying to put money aside to take my daughter on her dream trip to Japan one day. She's always wanted to go."

The Incident and Consequences

Then came that loud rapping on Saturday 1 November. "The person next door was quite panicked. The officers arrived and secured the area off. We all had to remain in the houses because we couldn't leave without passing by the collapse. The highways people came out, put the barrier up, and then they returned and put a additional barrier up around it as well."

It is thought the hole may be an unlucky remnant of a historic local mine, a abandoned mining site.

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

A Possible Resolution

An end may be in sight. The authorities has said it will work with McKenzie to – temporarily – remove the barriers to permit the car to be removed. He said: "They are willing to assist my insurance company's recovery team and try to arrange a day and an acceptable way of extracting it that ensures no anybody at risk."

The car has been badly damaged and is probably to be written off. "On the bright side I can say my Mini went out in a memorable way – not everyone can claim their vehicle was swallowed by the ground beneath them," McKenzie noted.

Council Statement

A representative from the local council said it sympathised with McKenzie. But it added: "The ground giving way did not happen on council land. We have secured the location and advised the vehicle owner that we will arrange to lift the fence to enable him to retrieve 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 guarantee public safety."