Cornwall Resident Loses Vehicle in Mysterious Sinkhole

The initial sign Malcolm McKenzie had of his predicament was when a person living nearby urgently banged on his front door and informed him his cherished Mini had fallen into a hole.

"I went out expecting a minor dip under a tire or something like that. But when I went out to check it out, I understood, oh, that really is a proper hole," he stated.

His vehicle had descended into a 10-foot wide opening, possibly created by a collapsed mine shaft, and McKenzie has spent 25 days stuck in a administrative "nightmare" trying to determine how to retrieve his car.

The Main Issue: Unregistered Land

The hitch is that the land isn't registered. The local council has stated it can't remove the fences blocking off the hole until land ownership had been established. "It's quite a difficult situation," said McKenzie, 36, a freelance creative. "It's red tape everywhere."

McKenzie has resided in the neighborhood in Redruth for about a decade and actually has a parking space beside his house, but it is too narrow to be useful so he began parking outside a nearby bakery. He had verified with both the shop and the local authority that he wouldn't get a parking fine.

"I'd finally felt 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 finally focus on trying to save up to take my child on her dream trip to Japan one day. She's always wanted to go."

The Event and Aftermath

Then came that knock on the door on Saturday 1 November. "The person next door was quite panicked. The police turned up and closed the zone off. We all had to remain in the homes because we can't get out without going past the hole. The road crew came out, erected the fence up, and then they returned and placed a additional barrier up surrounding it as well."

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

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

A Possible Solution

An end may be in sight. The authorities has stated it will work with McKenzie to – briefly – lift the barriers to allow the car to be recovered. He said: "They are willing to work with my insurance company's retrieval crew and try to schedule a date and an acceptable 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. "At least I can say my Mini met its end in a memorable way – not everyone can claim their car was swallowed by the Earth itself," McKenzie noted.

Council Response

A representative from the local council expressed it felt sorry with McKenzie. But it said: "The ground giving way did not happen on council land. We have secured the location and advised the vehicle owner that we will organize to temporarily remove the barrier to allow him to retrieve the vehicle.

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