Plenty of students end up taking on a part-time job to help cover the costs of studying - but Yasmin Awan, from Neston, can boast one of the most unusual.

In her role as Mermaid Athena Storm, 22-year-old Yasmin wears a tail and can earn up to £100 by swimming underwater without any diving equipment.

Yasmin, who studies medicine at the University of Sheffield, appears at both pool and land parties, our sister site the Liverpool Echo reports.

She said: “I first discovered that you could become a mermaid when I saw an advert for mermaid camp.

“It really intrigued me and I thought it could be a lot of fun.

“We were taught to free dive which is underwater diving that relies on the diver’s ability to hold their breath rather than the use of any equipment like scuba.”

Yasmin and the other mermaids were asked at the end of the course by the ‘head-mermaid’ to join her party business.

Then mermaids then bought their tails which cost between £100 and £3,000 depending on the material.

She said: “It all started off as a bit of fun but it blossomed into a business opportunity.

“I’m a child at heart - and who doesn’t want to be to be a mermaid?

“To me, it’s so much more than a job, I love working with children and seeing me dressed up as a ‘real-life’ mermaid makes them so happy.”

Although Yasmin loves her part-time job it also comes with a lucrative wage.

Both pool parties and land parties involve the mermaid playing games and educating the children about marine conservation.

To hire one for a pool party it would cost you up to £100 for the first hour and around £30 for every half hour after that.

Yasmin, said: “The company I work for has to be careful who we agree to host parties for.

“The job does attract some weird types that are known as ‘merverts’ who see mermaids as a sexual fantasy.

“We also get some backlash that we are buying into the fantasy but really we all just love entertaining at kid’s parties.”

She added: “Initially people think it’s a bit bonkers.

“But I plan to do this until I haven’t got time to do it anymore.”

To hire Yasmin for a party you can do so here.