Redruth Man Finds Car in Unexpected Sinkhole

The first sign Malcolm McKenzie had of his predicament was when a neighbor loudly knocked on his front door and informed him his cherished Mini had fallen into a opening.

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

His automobile had dropped into a 10-foot wide opening, possibly created by a mineshaft collapse, and McKenzie has endured 25 days stuck in a administrative "difficult situation" trying to determine how to retrieve his Mini.

The Core Problem: Unclaimed Property

The complication is that the land has no registered owner. The local council has said it can't remove the barriers blocking off the sinkhole until land ownership had been established. "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 not wide enough to be practical so he began parking outside a nearby bakery. He had checked with both the bakery and the local authority that he wouldn't get a parking fine.

"I had finally reached a point like I was making progress, I had a dependable little car that was fuel-efficient and easy to keep on the road. It signified I could at last focus on trying to save up to take my daughter on her dream trip to Japan someday. She's constantly dreamed to go."

The Event and Consequences

Then came that knock on the door 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 can't get out without passing by the collapse. The highways people came out, put the fence up, and then they came out and placed a additional barrier up around it as well."

It is thought the opening may be an unlucky remnant of Pednandrea Mine, a abandoned mining site.

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

A Potential Solution

An conclusion may be approaching. The authorities has said it will cooperate with McKenzie to – briefly – lift the fences to allow the Mini to be recovered. He said: "They have agreed to assist my insurer's retrieval crew and try to schedule a date and an suitable way of extracting it that doesn't put anybody at risk."

The vehicle has been badly damaged and is probably to be written off. "On the bright side I can say my Mini met its end in style – not everyone can claim their vehicle was eaten by the ground beneath them," McKenzie noted.

Council Statement

A spokesperson from the local council said it felt sorry with McKenzie. But it added: "The ground giving way did not occur on public property. We have made the area safe and informed the vehicle owner that we will arrange to lift the barrier to enable him to recover the car.

"As the land is unregistered, our safety measures will remain in place until land ownership has been determined, and we will persist to monitor the vicinity to ensure everyone's security."