Amsterdam city council is planning to raise its fees for removing wrongly-parked bikes to €30 in an effort to offset the €1m loss the service currently makes, according to The Post Online.

Currently The Hague charges the highest fees to recover a bike – €25 – the website says.

A decision about when the new fee will come into effect has not yet been taken, a spokesman told the website. The new city council will be asked to decide.

Last year, the council bike service removed 73,000 bikes and raised €639,000 from cyclists who came to reclaim their property, from selling unclaimed bikes and recycling wrecks.

Only 21,000 people bothered to reclaim their bikes, at a cost of €10 a bike or €20 for home delivery, The Post Online says. However, the cost of running the service was €1.6m.