Last year, Amsterdam council officials took away a record 55,000 bikes which had been wrongly parked, local broadcaster AT5 reports. In 2010, 33,000 bikes were removed.

Most bikes were removed from around train stations. Bikes which have been taken can be ‘bought back’ for a small fee from a depot in Amsterdam’s port area.
In 2011, a court in Utrecht said local councils cannot remove wrongly parked bikes without a warning, unless they pose an acute danger by, say, blocking an emergency exit.
The case was brought by a woman in Utrecht whose bike was removed from the city’s main station. She was awarded €1,000 in compensation.