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| | Thursday, 8 June, 2000, 16:17 GMT 17:17 UK  Wheel deal for police  Possible weapons parked up in Amsterdam Pete Lansley, Sport Online's man at Euro 2000, reports from the Netherlands. Amsterdam Police are confiscating badly-parked bikes outside the central train station in order to remove the surreal prospect of them being hurled around as weapons by potential trouble-makers. The new initiative started on the Monday before the start of Euro 2000 to coincide with the arrival of fans. The Dutch capital is as renowned for the incessant flow of bicycles as it is for canals and tulips. Up to 5000 bikes are parked at Centraal Station every day. Time to get wheelie tough Officer Daphne Rooyens said: "When bikes are locked on the gates, instead of in the allocated parking slots, then we are instructed to cut open the locks and take the bikes to the domeinen [a bike compound]. "They are held there for three months and the owners can then reclaim them on paying a fine of around 60 guilders (about �18).
"This plan was announced a couple of weeks ago, with the European Championships approaching, and seems to be working as we have not had any real problem with illegally-parked bikes." One of the great wake-up joys of walking around Amsterdam of a morning is looking out for trams and cars - but then having to jump clear of a flurry of bikes which appear as if from nowhere. The tacitly-confirmed notion that police are preparing for crazed football fans to start chucking bikes about adds a whole new dimension to this Dutch phenomenon. | |
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