🔗 Share this article

The initial sign the local man had of his predicament was when a neighbor loudly knocked on his door and told him his beloved Mini had plunged into a hole.

"I stepped outside expecting a minor dip under a tire or something like that. But when I walked out to take a look, I realized, oh, that truly is a proper hole," he explained.

His automobile had dropped into a 10-foot wide opening, possibly created by a collapsed mine shaft, and McKenzie has endured 25 days caught in a administrative "difficult situation" trying to determine how to extricate his car.

The Main Issue: Unclaimed Property

The complication is that the land isn't registered. The local council has said it won't take down the barriers cordoning off the hole until property rights had been established. "It's a bit of a nightmare," 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 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 local bakery. He had checked with both the shop and the council that he would avoid receiving a ticket.

"I'd finally felt like I was making progress, I had a dependable little car that was fuel-efficient and simple to keep on the road. It signified I could at last 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 came that loud rapping on Saturday 1 November. "The person next door was quite panicked. The officers turned up and secured the area off. We all had to stay in the homes because we couldn't leave without passing by the hole. The road crew arrived, put the fence up, and then they came out and put a additional barrier up surrounding it as well."

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

McKenzie thought he would be separated from his vehicle for a few days. But days have now turned into weeks.

A Possible Resolution

An end may be in sight. The authorities has stated it will cooperate with McKenzie to – temporarily – lift the barriers to permit the Mini to be removed. He commented: "They are willing to assist my insurance company's retrieval crew and try to schedule a day and an acceptable way of getting it out that doesn't put anybody at risk."

The vehicle has been significantly harmed and is likely to be written off. "On the bright side I can say my Mini went out in style – not everyone can say their car was swallowed by the ground beneath them," McKenzie remarked.

Council Response

A spokesperson from the authorities expressed it sympathised with McKenzie. But it said: "This collapse did not happen on public property. We have secured the location and informed the vehicle owner that we will arrange to temporarily remove the fence to enable him to recover the car.

"As the land is unregistered, our barriers will remain in place until land ownership has been determined, and we will continue to monitor the vicinity to guarantee public safety."