When it comes to bicycle parking, the categories ‘obnoxiously/dangerously parked bicycles‘ and ‘incorrectly parked bicycles’ have a lot in common. In both cases the bicycles are not in ‘their proper place’, albeit to a different degree. There are also many similarities in how these problems are dealt with. The bicycles are removed, stored according to a clear protocol and eventually sold or given away when the owners do not contact the authorities in time. The major difference is the legal basis for the removal. In case of obnoxious or dangerous parking the legal basis is clear. These can be removed immediately under section 5 of the Road Traffic Act. Dangerous or obnoxious means for instance that the road is blocked to emergency services or that the evacuation route for users of the train station is partially obstructed. Even a bicycle jutting out over a bike path or a guide path for the visually impaired is considered obnoxiously or dangerously parked..
Many local authorities state in their by-laws that all wrongly parked bicycles will be removed. The ‘formal reality’ of these local by-laws (and as a result often the local authorities’ websites as well) is, however, hard to realise in practice. Only rarely are wrongly parked bicycles transferred to a depot outside the vicinity of the station. Two other types of ‘clean-up’ operation do, on the other hand, occur frequently: transferring wrongly parked bicycles to the bike stands - provided there is room, or removing only the obnoxiously parked bicycles - in particular when it is known that there is a serious lack of capacity and/or the depot is filled to capacity.