Cornwall Man Loses Vehicle in Unexpected Sinkhole

The first sign the local man had of his situation was when a person living nearby loudly knocked on his door and informed him his beloved Mini had fallen into a opening.

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

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

The Core Issue: Unclaimed Land

The complication is that the land has no registered owner. The authorities has said it won't take down the fences cordoning off the hole until land ownership had been established. "It's a bit of a nightmare," said McKenzie, 36, a freelance designer. "There's bureaucracy at every turn."

McKenzie has lived in the area 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 local bakery. He had checked with both the shop and the council that he would avoid receiving a ticket.

"I'd finally felt like I was getting somewhere, I had a reliable small vehicle that was economical and simple to keep on the road. It signified I could finally focus on trying to put money aside to take my child on her dream trip to Japan someday. 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 police turned up and closed the area off. We all had to remain in the houses because we couldn't leave without passing by the collapse. The road crew arrived, put the fence up, and then they returned and put a second fence up surrounding it as well."

It is thought the hole may be an unfortunate remnant of Pednandrea Mine, a abandoned copper and tin mine.

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

A Potential Resolution

An conclusion may be approaching. The authorities has said it will work with McKenzie to – briefly – remove the barriers to permit the car to be recovered. He commented: "They are willing to assist my insurer's recovery team and try to arrange a date and an acceptable way of extracting it 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 style – not everyone can claim their vehicle was eaten by the Earth itself," McKenzie remarked.

Authority Statement

A representative from the local council expressed it felt sorry with McKenzie. But it said: "The ground giving way did not occur on public property. We have made the area safe and advised the car owner that we will arrange to lift the fence to enable him to retrieve the car.

"As the land is unregistered, our barriers will stay up until property ownership has been established, and we will continue to observe the vicinity to ensure public safety."