The move, which took the two dozen staff members and students who cycle to work by surprise, was done without any consultation.

Staff member Dr Chris Willott said, "Yesterday, we were informed that all cycle locking facilities would be removed. We were not consulted about this, and it means that all those who cycle to work will have to lock their bikes on the street, making them vulnerable to theft."

Willott says the Institute of Child Health has provided an alternative "but that is 10 minutes walk away, which means that few people will use it".

The photographs (above and below) show the empty space where the bikes were once kept and the packed street bike stands where staff and students will now have to compete for space.

University College London (UCL), of which Institute of Child Health is a part, has a policy that commits it to "create a sustainable campus" and "to become a leader across the HE sector in terms of environmental sustainability".

The University has a Travel Plan that says it will "assist and facilitate staff and students using transport other than private cars to and from UCL and its residential accommodation".

It goes on to say that ‘UCL is committed to assessing regularly the demand for facilities for cyclists across the college, and to ensuring that the supply of such facilities keeps pace, as far as possible, with demand.