Marrying couples asked to make organ donor pledge

Couples will be asked to sign up as organ donors before they walk down the aisle under Government plans.

They will be prompted to register as donors each time they log on to a state website giving information to people getting married.

Millions of Londoners will also be steered towards the NHS organ donor pages in another move to boost numbers.

Cabinet Office minister Grant Shapps has struck a deal with Transport for London and Mayor Boris Johnson so that recruitment ads for donors are flashed up to people looking up travel information or checking their Oyster cards.

People applying for TV licences and bus passes or paying utility bills will also be asked to give permission for their kidneys, eyes, hearts and other organs to be given away if they die. Three people each day die waiting for a transplant in the UK, and the minister said: “It’s clear that we need to do more to get people on the organ donor register so we can save more lives.”

The TfL deal means one of the most popular websites in the UK will be targeting users.

The idea comes from the so-called “nudge unit” in the Cabinet Office which was set up to devise ways of changing the way people behave without passing new laws or creating red tape.

Some 600,000 people signed up after prompts were displayed when they renewed their road tax or applied for a driving licence online.

About 10,000 Britons are waiting for transplants but donor numbers are too low. By contrast, some US states have almost twice as many donors as the UK, with 60 per cent signed up.