Sinkhole car still stuck after three weeks

Malcolm McKenzie's Mini fell into the old mine workings on 1 November

The owner of a car that has been stuck in a sinkhole for more than three weeks is no closer to getting it out and is finding the situation "really stressful".

It is believed the 10ft (3m) wide hole opened up due to old mine workings in Redruth, Cornwall.

The owners of a bakery beside the collapse are unable to use part of the building and some nearby residents are facing access issues.

Cornwall Council said the area would remain fenced off until it was able to determine who owned the land, which appeared to be unregistered.

Malcolm McKenzie's customised Mini will need to lifted out by a crane

Car owner Malcolm McKenzie said: "My insurance company has offered to recover the car for free, which is good of them, but Cornwall Council says they can't take the fence down until they get written permission from the landowner - and there is no landowner.

"Until I can find somebody to buy the land from or give me permission, I'm stuck.

"Even if I did buy the land, then I'd have to make the area safe which would cost a lot of money which I don't have."

He added: "Although it was funny at first, I'm finding the whole thing really stressful now."

The hole is against the rear wall of Berryman's Bakery and its owners have been told not to use their back room where doughnuts and confectionary items were previously prepared.

Rachael Vingoe, from the bakery, said: "It's really frightening. We don't know when the car will be able to come out, we haven't got a clue."

She added: "If it was on our land, we could take responsibility and call our insurers. But it's 'no man's land', so we can't answer the question of who's going to take responsibility."

The hole next to the wall of a bakery has grown and made the back door of the building unsafe

Judi Nicholls lives a few doors down and said access to lane behind her property was limited because of the fencing around the car.

She said: "You can't park the car at the back of my house because of the access - it's affected our neighbours as well, so it's been a bit of a nightmare really.

"Cornwall Highways have written to me saying that they're working hard to try and get it resolved, but there's no resolution and how long will it be until it gets sorted - and how long will it be until I can get into my property."

Bakery owners Rachael and Rob Vingoe have had to move doughnut production out of the back room of their bakery

A spokesperson for Cornwall Council said: "While we have every sympathy with the car owner, this collapse did not occur on council land.

"We have made the area safe and advised the car owner that we will arrange to lift the barrier to enable him to recover the vehicle.

"As the land is unregistered, our barriers will remain in place until land ownership has been determined, and we will continue to monitor the surrounding area to ensure public safety."

Historical mine expert Dan Berriman said it was likely the old workings were linked to the Pednandrea Mine, one of many in the Redruth area, some dating back hundreds of years.

He said there were more than 20,000 mine shafts across south-west England and probably "less than 10% have been properly fixed".

Mr Berriman added if heavy equipment, such as a crane, was needed to remove the car, it may not have stable ground to stand on, causing further problems for any recovery team.