Amsterdam council and government officials are looking at changing the rules so that only people with an ‘official’ handicap can park their mini cars on the city’s pavements, the NRC reported on Wednesday evening.

There has been a surge in micro car ownership in the capital, and some 400 mini electric cars, known as Biros, are now parking on pavements in the city centre and elsewhere.

Like the Canta, the small red vehicles which used to be mainly driven by people with a physical handicap, Biros are allowed to use cycle tracks, their drivers don’t need a licence and they can park where they like.

Of the 400 Biros in the Dutch capital, 60% are owned by companies and 40% by private individuals who use them to go shopping or take the kids to school, importer Pieter Vermeer told the paper.

Transport alderman Pieter Litjens told the NRC that people who face physical problems getting around should still be able to use a micro car. ‘But people who don’t have problems should not be parking them on the pavement,’ he said.

Officials are also looking the option of forcing micro cars off the cycle tracks and into the road. Mopeds will be banned from cycle paths later this year.