🔗 Share this article

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

"I stepped outside anticipating a minor dip under a tire or something similar. But when I walked out to take a look, I realized, oh, that truly is a significant cavity," he stated.

His automobile had descended into a 3-metre wide gap, likely caused by a mineshaft collapse, and McKenzie has spent 25 days caught in a bureaucratic "nightmare" trying to figure out how to extricate his Mini.

The Core Issue: Unclaimed Property

The hitch is that the property isn't registered. The authorities has said it can't remove the fences cordoning off the sinkhole until land ownership had been established. "It's a bit of a nightmare," said McKenzie, 36, a freelance designer. "There's bureaucracy at every turn."

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 too narrow to be useful so he started leaving his car outside a nearby bakery. He had verified with both the bakery and the council that he wouldn't get a ticket.

"I had finally reached a point like I was making progress, I had a reliable small vehicle that was fuel-efficient and simple to keep on the road. It meant I could finally focus on trying to put money aside to take my daughter on her aspirational journey to Japan someday. She's always wanted to go."

The Event and Consequences

Then arrived that loud rapping on Saturday 1 November. "The person next door was quite panicked. The officers turned up and closed the zone off. We all had to remain in the homes because we couldn't leave without going past the hole. The road crew came out, put the barrier up, and then they returned and put a additional barrier up around it as well."

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

McKenzie believed he would be separated from his car for a few days. But that short time have now turned into weeks.

A Possible Resolution

An end may be in sight. The council has said it will cooperate with McKenzie to – briefly – lift the fences to allow the Mini to be removed. He commented: "They have agreed to work with my insurer's retrieval crew and try to arrange a day and an acceptable way of getting it out that ensures no anybody at danger."

The vehicle has been significantly harmed and is probably to be written off. "At least I can say my Mini met its end in a memorable way – not everyone can say their car was eaten by the Earth itself," McKenzie remarked.

Council Response

A representative from the authorities expressed it sympathised with McKenzie. But it said: "The ground giving way did not occur on public property. We have made the area safe and advised the car owner that we will organize to temporarily remove the barrier to enable him to retrieve the car.

"Since no one owns the land, our barriers will stay up until property ownership has been established, and we will persist to monitor the vicinity to guarantee public safety."