The Sun and Liverpool: Merseytravel apologises over bus shelter adverts

Merseytravel said the billboards, which were put up across the region, had now been removed

Merseyside's transport executive has apologised after adverts for The Sun newspaper, which is widely boycotted in the area, were put up on bus shelters.

Merseytravel said billboards promoting the paper went up on Monday due to an "error" by contractor Clear Channel.

The paper has been largely shunned around Liverpool for decades over an article that made false claims about fans at the 1989 Hillsborough disaster.

Regional Mayor Steve Rotheram said the newspaper was "not welcome here".

A spokesman for Merseytravel, which provides transport advice to the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and is responsible for bus, rail and ferry services, said it had launched an immediate investigation into how the adverts came to be put up.

He added that they had been removed within an hour of the executive being made aware of them.

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

'Offensive'

Mr Rotheram, who was at the Sheffield stadium when the disaster unfolded on 15 April 1989, said he would be seeking "cast iron guarantees" that there would be no repetition of the mistake in the future.

"To say that I was angered that these adverts have been put up across our region would be an understatement," he said in a statement.

"That 'newspaper' is not and will not ever be welcome here."

In 2016, Merseytravel backed a campaign to eradicate the tabloid from Liverpool

Wirral resident Jack Hopkins was one of those who saw the billboards after they were put up, taking a picture of one on Hoylake Road in Moreton.

He tweeted the image and added: "I would expect MerseyTravel to know how offensive this is to people in Merseyside."

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.

As a result, many newsagents in the region still refuse to stock the paper and in 2016, Merseytravel asked all vendors to stop selling it after backing a campaign to eradicate the tabloid from Liverpool.

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