After members of the public brought The S*n bus stop adverts across the region to his attention, Mayor Steve Rotherham instructed Mersey Travel to get them taken down.

They have also sought an explanation and assurances that this will not happen again.

Mersey Travel responded quickly with:

Overnight we were made aware by members of the public that adverts for the S*n had appeared on some bus shelters across the Liverpool City Region.

We immediately contacted Clear Channel, the external contractor responsible for this, and asked that all the posters be immediately removed. We have been assured that all posters were removed within the hour.

We immediately investigated how this could have happened and have clarified that, despite controls being in place to prevent this, an error had occurred in Clear Channel’s process that allowed these adverts to be placed as part of a national campaign.

We recognise the upset this has caused to people across the region and we apologise that this has happened.

We are now working with Clear Channel to understand how this could have happened and to secure measures that will prevent it happening again.

The boycott of The Sun on Merseyside began after the newspaper published an article on 19 April 1989, which was titled The Truth. The article made false and damaging claims about the behaviour of supporters during and after the disaster, which claimed the lives of 97 Liverpool fans and left hundreds injured.