Cornwall Man Finds Car in Unexpected Ground Collapse

The first indication the local man had of his predicament was when a person living nearby urgently banged on his door and informed him his cherished Mini had plunged into a hole.

"I stepped outside expecting a minor dip under a wheel or something similar. But when I went out to check it out, I understood, oh, that truly is a significant cavity," he explained.

His vehicle had dropped into a 3-metre wide opening, possibly created by a collapsed mine shaft, and McKenzie has spent 25 days caught in a administrative "nightmare" trying to determine how to retrieve his Mini.

The Main Problem: Unclaimed Property

The hitch is that the land has no registered owner. The authorities has said it can't remove the barriers cordoning off the hole until property rights had been confirmed. "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 a decade and actually has a designated spot beside his house, but it is not wide enough to be useful so he began parking outside a local bakery. He had verified with both the shop and the local authority that he would avoid receiving a ticket.

"I had finally reached a point like I was making progress, I had a reliable little car that was fuel-efficient and easy to keep on the road. It signified I could at last focus on trying to put money aside to take my child on her aspirational journey to Japan one day. She's always wanted to go."

The Incident and Consequences

Then arrived that loud rapping on a Saturday in November. "My neighbour was very alarmed. The officers turned up and secured the area off. We all had to remain in the houses because we can't get out without going past the collapse. The road crew arrived, put the fence up, and then they came out and placed a second fence up around it as well."

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

McKenzie believed he would be without his vehicle for a short period. But days have now become weeks.

A Possible Resolution

An end may be approaching. The council has said it will work with McKenzie to – briefly – remove 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 schedule a day and an suitable way of getting it out that doesn't put anybody at danger."

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

Authority Response

A spokesperson from the authorities expressed it felt sorry with McKenzie. But it added: "The ground giving way did not happen on council land. We have made the area safe and informed the car owner that we will arrange to temporarily remove the barrier to allow him to recover the car.

"Since no one owns the land, our safety measures will remain in place until land ownership has been established, and we will continue to observe the surrounding area to guarantee everyone's security."