Redruth Man Finds Vehicle in Unexpected Ground Collapse

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

"I went out anticipating a small pothole under a wheel or something similar. But when I walked out to take a look, I understood, oh, that truly is a significant cavity," he explained.

His vehicle had dropped into a 3-metre wide gap, likely caused by a mineshaft collapse, and McKenzie has endured 25 days caught in a bureaucratic "difficult situation" trying to determine how to retrieve his car.

The Main Problem: Unregistered Property

The complication is that the property has no registered owner. The authorities has said it won't take down the fences blocking off the hole until property rights had been established. "It's quite a difficult situation," said McKenzie, 36, a self-employed designer. "It's red tape everywhere."

McKenzie has resided in the area in Redruth for about a decade and actually has a parking space next to 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 bakery 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 dependable little car that was economical and simple to keep on the road. It meant I could finally focus on trying to put money aside to take my daughter on her dream trip to Japan someday. She's always wanted to go."

The Event and Consequences

Then came that loud rapping on Saturday 1 November. "The person next door was very alarmed. The officers arrived and secured the zone off. We all had to remain in the homes because we couldn't leave without going past the collapse. The road crew arrived, erected 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 legacy of Pednandrea Mine, a abandoned copper and tin mine.

McKenzie believed he would be separated from his car 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 cooperate with McKenzie to – briefly – remove the fences to permit the Mini to be recovered. He commented: "They are willing to assist my insurer's retrieval crew and try to arrange a day and an acceptable way of extracting it that ensures no anybody at risk."

The vehicle has been significantly harmed and is likely to be declared a total loss. "On the bright side I can say my Mini went out in a memorable way – not everyone can claim their vehicle was swallowed by the Earth itself," McKenzie noted.

Council Response

A representative from the local council said it sympathised with McKenzie. But it said: "The ground giving way did not occur on public property. We have secured the location and informed the car owner that we will organize to temporarily remove the barrier to enable him to retrieve the vehicle.

"As the land is unregistered, our safety measures will stay up until land ownership has been determined, and we will persist to monitor the surrounding area to guarantee everyone's security."