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An American tourist has caused €25,000 (£21,000) worth of damage after hurling her electric scooter down Rome’s Spanish Steps.

The incident was filmed by a passerby in the early hours of Friday. Police later caught up with the 28-year-old and fined her and a 29-year-old male companion, who had wheeled his e-scooter down the 18th-century marble steps, €400 each.

The pair were also banned from returning to the famous monument, a Unesco world heritage site that underwent a €1.5m restoration in 2015. The incident came two weeks after a visitor from Saudi Arabia drove a Maserati down the flight of steps. People were banned from sitting on the Spanish Steps in 2018.