Taxpayer-funded bike racks on Disraeli Road have become a graveyard of abandoned parts, with only 10 functional bicycles among 64 spaces despite council policy requiring removal of abandoned bikes within 14 days.
We inspected the two large racks this week and found nearly two-thirds of spaces empty, with a majority of those in use containing rusted frames, stripped chassis, and wheels locked without bikes.
It raises questions about how Wandsworth Council enforces its own cycling infrastructure policies, particularly as the borough simultaneously invests in modern e-bike parking to match how Londoners actually travel in 2026.
The inspection on Wednesday morning (7 January, 11:00am) documented the scale of neglect. Across two covered racks with 32 spaces each, only 26 spaces showed any occupancy at all. Of these 26 “parked” items:
- Just 10 serviceable bikes
- Seven spaces occupied by wheels locked to racks (bikes long gone)
- Six bikes missing one or both wheels
- Multiple stripped frames, including one completely rusted chassis
The rust patterns suggest months of abandonment. Single wheels remain locked whilst their bikes disappeared long ago. Meanwhile, eight Lime bikes were parked on the pavement right next to the racks, alongside one e-scooter – functional transport blocked from designated infrastructure whilst the official racks hold wreckage.
The maths is stark: 59% of spaces sit completely empty, while only 16% of total capacity is used by functional bicycles – and some of them look like they hadn’t been moved in months (cobwebs on the gears was one pointer). The remaining 25% holds abandoned parts.
Policy failure
In March 2023, Wandsworth Council announced a scheme to tackle abandoned bikes across the borough. Bicycles are tagged and, if unclaimed after 14 days, removed and either donated to youth groups for refurbishment or scrapped.
Cabinet member for transport Clare Fraser celebrated the initiative: “Our Future Streets campaign is all about giving everybody a chance to access clean, green, accessible transport, so I’m delighted young people have the opportunity to fix up and own their own bike.”
The Disraeli bike racks tell a different story and the policy appears simply not to have been enforced at this location – for a very long time.
Putney.news contacted Wandsworth Council asking why the removal policy hasn’t been applied, when the location was last inspected, and whether the council plans to address the chronic underuse of the racks. We also asked whether it has considered converting traditional bike racks to designated e-bike parking bays, building on its successful e-bike programme elsewhere in the borough.
Local ward councillor Ethan Brooks responded that he would chase the council for answers. The council’s press office has yet to respond.
The e-bike revolution
The abandoned traditional bike parking sits against the backdrop of London’s dramatic shift to rental e-bikes. Lime alone recorded 16 million commute journeys in London during 2024, an 85% increase year-on-year, with company revenue hitting £111 million. Nearly half of Londoners aged 18-34 now use rental e-bikes weekly or more.
Wandsworth Council has responded with significant investment: more than 170 dedicated e-bike parking bays across town centres since June 2024, plus an impoundment scheme for badly parked e-bikes launched in September 2025. Cabinet Member for Transport Jenny Yates stated in December 2024 that e-bikes generate “about 400,000 trips per month within our borough.”
In January 2025, Lime announced a £20 million London investment plan, including £5 million for parking infrastructure to create 2,500+ dedicated spaces.
Yet whilst the council addresses e-bike parking through new bays and enforcement, traditional bike infrastructure like the Disraeli racks sits neglected, caught between policy and reality.
Resident flags the problem
Putney resident and Putney.news reader David contacted us about the state of the racks: “Its largely empty, and of the handful of bicycles using it, most are unserviceable/ vandalised/ broken. Its an eyesore, and if these facilities are not being used as intended, perhaps the space could be put to better use.”
His observation proved accurate. The racks represent a policy enforcement failure that leaves taxpayer-funded infrastructure serving as storage for abandoned bike parts.
The location adds another dimension. Disraeli Road sits at a junction where traffic flow has become a significant local concern, with ongoing congestion problems and resident complaints about extended delays.
Infrastructure occupying vital road space whilst sitting 59% empty and holding mostly abandoned parts raises questions about alternative uses – whether designated e-bike parking to reduce pavement clutter, or space returned to traffic flow at a congested junction.
The story develops as Wandsworth Council continues to champion active travel while leaving existing infrastructure visibly unenforced and increasingly mismatched to how Londoners actually cycle in 2026.
This story will be updated as responses are received from the council.
The bikes in those racks are not abandoned.
They are remnants of stolen bicycles because the council structure is wholly useless. The Met Polices advice on bikes is to lock (preferably with a cable and a D-lock) *both* the wheel and frame to a bike stand.
Having had three bikes stolen in London over the years I’d never had a bike stolen again for 20 years until 2024. When my precious 20 year old Kona Firefox, which I’d recently had completely overhauled for £260 by the excellent independent bike shop on lower Richmond Road, was stolen from those racks. Because they are completely unfit for purpose in stopping theft.
The council of course has no interest and there is no CCTV available over the racks to track the frequent thefts from it.
And the Met are equally disinterested in bike theft (despite the fact the cost of loss must be near to that of mobile phones). My bike was tagged with the police recommended tagging system so I was astonished exiting East Putney tube station one evening a few months after my loss to find two community policewomen promoting the tagging scheme.
When I asked them if they recovered tagged bikes and, if so, whether they got in touch with owners, the officer was simple unable to understand what I was asking. Eventually she said she would check with Wandsworth police and telephone me (I’m still waiting for the call). Eventually a passerby told me not to waste my time with tagging and just make sure to get a decent double lock.
So nil points for the police. As for the council its only interest –as we’ve seen from their wholly miserable cycle scheme on the high street — is to implement the C50 Cities Mayors’ National and “Local plans’ that aim to ensure you’ll go nowhere but within a 24/7 surveilled 5 mile radius S.M A.R.T. (surveillance monitoring artificial retrieval technology) city in which you’ll walk everywhere (or cycle on a “shared property” ecycle, if you’re lucky).
The racks should be dismantled and the road widened to make way for a second lane dedicated to cars turning into PHS. The traffic on disreali road is sometimes 20 cars deep with many cars looking to move on through Norroy Road.