Amsterdam officials confiscate nearly 64,000 bikes

Amsterdam’s special centre for dealing with wrongly parked or abandoned bikes processed 63,710 two-wheelers last year, the Parool reported on Monday.

Of them, nearly four in 10 were classified as ‘neglected’ because they had not been properly maintained and could not be ridden, the paper said.

Bikes classified as ‘neglected’ are kept at the centre for two weeks before being sent off for recycling or to be repaired and sold on or given to good causes.

Other bikes, which were taken away by officials because they were wrongly parked or because they had been in the same spot for more than six weeks, are kept for six weeks.

Owners have to pay €22.50 to pick up their bikes at the collection centre or can pay €35 to have it delivered back to their home.