MUMS-TO-BE can now wear a Merseytravel ‘baby on board’ badge when travelling around on buses and trains.

The brightly coloured yellow badges offer a subtle way of letting fellow passengers know that the wearer is pregnant.

The idea was suggested by Kat Taylor from Liverpool, who heard about a similar scheme in London.

She contacted Merseytravel who were quick to pick up on the idea.

Kat said: “In the early stages no one can see that you are pregnant, so a badge would be useful to make sure the people around know you are expecting, in case you fall ill whilst travelling or so they can make space for you when getting on and off the bus.”

Cllr Marlene Quinn, deputy chairman of Merseytravel said: “We aim to make sure that all of our passengers have a safe and comfortable journey and we thought this was a great, low cost way of improving the journey for expectant mums”

The badges are available from Merseytravel Centres across Merseyside.