A toddler aged three has been found travelling alone on a bus in Manchester city centre.

Police believe the boy may have ridden from Droylsden - almost five miles away in Tameside - after apparently getting on the bus by himself.

The youngster was discovered by a bus inspector at Piccadilly Gardens at lunchtime today.

The official rang 999 and police were called to the scene at 1.50pm.

The tot has been taken into police protection and his mother, believed to be in the Droylsden area, has been informed.

Officers are now investigating the incident, and the mother was due to speak to officers this afternoon.

It is believed the three-year-old will have got on a 231 Stagecoach bus which will have taken him to the bus stop in Piccadilly Gardens opposite the statue of Queen Victoria, at the top of Market Street.

The route, which runs every 10 minutes in the middle of the day, takes around 25 minutes to reach the city centre from Droylsden.

Starting at Ashton bus station it takes a similar route to the Ashton to Eccles tram, passing through Ancoats before it reaches Droylsden, where the toddler is believed to have got on.

Joining Droylsden Road from Manchester Road, the route follows an almost straight line, as it joins Ashton New Road.

(Image: Joel Goodman)

The route passes through Clayton before it reaches the Etihad Stadium and Asda Walmart.

From there the double decker bus drives through Ancoats, past the former Bank of England pub, via Every Street, before heading into the city centre via Great Ancoats Street and Oldham Street.

A spokesperson for Stagecoach Manchester said: "We can confirm we worked with police to help reunite a young child with his mother. The unaccompanied child was found on one of our double decker buses travelling from Droylsden to Piccadilly. Our driver immediately alerted our operations team as soon as he became aware of the issue."

Updated: A previous version of this story said the boy got on the 216. It is now understood it was the 231.