Redruth Man Loses Car in Unexpected Sinkhole

The first indication Malcolm McKenzie received of his predicament was when a neighbor loudly knocked on his door and told him his beloved Mini had plunged into a opening.

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

His automobile had descended into a 3-metre wide opening, possibly created by a mineshaft collapse, and McKenzie has endured 25 days stuck in a bureaucratic "nightmare" trying to figure out how to retrieve his Mini.

The Core Issue: Unclaimed Land

The complication is that the property has no registered owner. The local council has said it won't take down the fences blocking off the hole until property rights had been confirmed. "It's a bit of a nightmare," said McKenzie, 36, a self-employed creative. "It's red tape everywhere."

McKenzie has resided in the neighborhood in Redruth for about 10 years and actually has a designated spot beside his house, but it is not wide enough to be practical so he started leaving his car outside a nearby bakery. He had checked with both the bakery 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 economical and easy to keep on the road. It meant 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 Incident and Consequences

Then came that loud rapping on Saturday 1 November. "The person next door was very alarmed. The police turned up and closed the zone off. We all had to stay in the houses because we can't get out without passing by the hole. The highways people arrived, erected the barrier up, and then they returned and put a additional barrier up surrounding it as well."

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

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

A Possible Solution

An end may be in sight. The council has said it will work with McKenzie to – briefly – remove the fences to permit the car to be removed. He said: "They are willing to assist my insurer's recovery team and try to arrange a day and an suitable way of extracting it that ensures no 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 car was swallowed by the Earth itself," McKenzie noted.

Council Statement

A representative from the local council expressed it felt sorry with McKenzie. But it added: "The ground giving way did not occur on public property. We have secured the location and advised the vehicle owner that we will arrange to lift the fence to allow him to recover the vehicle.

"Since no one owns the land, our barriers will stay up until property ownership has been determined, and we will persist to observe the surrounding area to guarantee public safety."