Venice residents have criticised the city’s authorities after a four-year-old boy was fined for riding his electric scooter in the vicinity of St Mark’s Square.

Traffic police handed the child’s father a fine of €66 and 88 cents (£60) as the toy was deemed an outlawed “speed accelerator” and its use was not permitted in Piazzetta dei Leoncini next to St Mark’s Basilica.

The incident happened at about 9pm on a night in September but the boy’s Venetian father, Jacopo Caruti, only just received notice of the fine by post.

“When I went to collect the mail I couldn’t believe it,” he told Corriere del Veneto. “My son was not riding the scooter like a madman in the middle of a crowded square, otherwise they would have justifiably stopped me for not being able to control my child, but we were going at a crawl.”

He has 60 days to pay the fine but is planning to appeal. A new law is being prepared that would allow children under the age of 10 to ride electric scooters in the city, apart from in busy areas such as St Mark’s Square and the Rialto Bridge, but for now the old rules prevail. Roller blades and games that involve throwing objects are also prohibited.

Monica Sambo, a politician for the centre-left Democratic party in Venice council, described the sanction as “over the top”.

“St Mark’s Square mustn’t become an amusement park, but what harm can a child have caused?”

Venice has an exhaustive list of “decorum” rules, including banning people from sitting on the steps of monuments, snacking while walking along the street and feeding pigeons. The rules are not confined to tourists, with officials also considering banning music on boats, the principal mode of transport for residents.

Residents who have long complained about the city’s genuine problems, including its traffic-logged canals, also derided the police officers across social media after notice of the fine was shared online.

“In Rome, the police evict mafia criminals, in Venice they fine a child for riding a scooter,” said one commenter.