ARTISTS who are fed-up with dockless bikes cluttering up pavements are secretly playing a game of “competitive bicycle parking” in which they try to arrange the frames in the most striking way possible and then post their sculptures on social media.

A mystery man behind one of the structures – a tower of hire bikes that have been found in streets – broke cover this week to tell the New Journal how players of the game are “baiting authority”. A qualified joiner who lives in Camden Town but insisted on remaining anonymous, he said: “I think if you see your neighbour and they are sad, if you see someone reaching up to the top shelf and they can’t reach, then you should help them. When I see those bikes, I think, they’ve got to be moved.”

He added: “I sometimes use metal fasteners and a drill if I’m making a big one, but I always make them really safe and not an obstruction. I make sure they can’t fall over on people and I work mainly at night.”

The man said he resented the “imposition of the corporates” on public pavements and that he always made sure “it was bloody difficult for the company” to remove his hire bike towers. Other competitors have posted photos on the “competitive bicycling parking” Facebook page.

The artist who spoke to the New Journal said: “I’ve got one new recruit, he also likes ­baiting authority. When I saw him do his first one I was so proud.” A bike sculpture the artist created in Camden Road in June captured the imagination of passers-by.

Explaining his motives, the man said: “What sparked that one in Camden Town was that I was walking along and there were five bikes just lying there on the pavement in Camden Road, all scattered about. “I was thinking about my mum not being able to get past them. “People just don’t give a monkeys these days.”

The man said he had lost count of how many sculptures he had ­created, mainly around Camden.

“There are beautiful things all around to be found in the street, and because of that I’m a ­little bit of hoarder,” he said. “I go around picking some things up, mainly at night, and I’ve found that to get everything home I had to learn how to link them together. That’s where it came from really – that’s why I started joinery.”

Camden Council is currently in a year-long trial with Lime – the operators behind distinctive green bikes – and Jump which are red. The Town Hall has maintained that “they should be parked in sensible locations and suggested parking bays can be found on each app”. The council is, however, working on a new by-law to help control bad parking by users.

Environment chief Councillor Adam Harrison said over the summer that members of the public should help clear any obstructions. “There is an onus on the operator to be able to respond quickly,” he told a council meeting. “And there is probably an onus on the rest of us who are able to. If you do see a bike that’s fallen or has been pushed, put it back where it should be so that it doesn’t block the way for others.”