🔗 Share this article

The initial sign Malcolm McKenzie had of his predicament was when a person living nearby loudly knocked on his door and told him his beloved Mini had fallen into a hole.

"I stepped outside anticipating a small pothole under a wheel or something like that. But when I went out to take a look, I realized, oh, that truly is a proper hole," he stated.

His automobile had dropped into a 10-foot wide gap, likely caused by a mineshaft collapse, and McKenzie has spent 25 days caught in a bureaucratic "difficult situation" trying to determine how to extricate his car.

The Core Issue: Unregistered Land

The complication is that the property has no registered owner. The local council has said it can't remove the barriers blocking off the sinkhole until land ownership had been confirmed. "It's quite a difficult situation," said McKenzie, 36, a freelance 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 next to his house, but it is not wide enough to be useful so he started leaving his car outside a nearby bakery. He had verified with both the shop and the local authority that he would avoid receiving a parking fine.

"I had finally reached a point like I was getting somewhere, I had a reliable little car that was economical and easy to keep on the road. It signified I could at last focus on trying to put money aside to take my daughter on her dream trip to Japan one day. She's constantly dreamed to go."

The Incident and Consequences

Then came that knock on the door on a Saturday in November. "My neighbour was quite panicked. The officers arrived and secured the area off. We all had to remain in the houses because we can't get out without passing by the collapse. The highways people came out, erected the barrier up, and then they came out and placed a second fence up surrounding it as well."

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

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

A Possible Resolution

An conclusion may be approaching. The authorities has said it will cooperate with McKenzie to – briefly – lift the fences to allow the car to be recovered. He commented: "They are willing to work with my insurance company's recovery team and try to arrange a day and an suitable way of getting it out that ensures no anybody at danger."

The car has been badly damaged and is likely to be declared a total loss. "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 Response

A spokesperson from the authorities expressed it felt sorry with McKenzie. But it said: "This collapse did not happen on council land. We have made the area safe and advised the car owner that we will arrange to lift 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 surrounding area to guarantee everyone's security."