A HERO carpenter leapt into action to deliver his girlfriend’s baby in the back of a car on an A34 lay-by.

John Thompson, of Blewbury near Didcot, was with his heavily pregnant girlfriend Sarah Cooke at their home in Eastfields when her water broke on June 5, ten days before her due date.

After phoning the John Radcliffe Hospital at 4.20am, Mr Thompson was advised to wait six hours and to be there at 10am.

But five minutes later the couple were in the car because Miss Cooke was experiencing “severe” contractions.

Mr Thompson, 45, said: “We rang the hospital and they asked us to wait six hours, then her contractions got severe and I thought ‘we have to go’.”

While on the A34 Northbound between North Abingdon and the Hinksey Hill roundabout, Miss Cooke said she was in desperate need of pushing the baby out.

Mr Thompson said: “I was driving and she was sitting in the back. Then she told me [the baby] was coming.”

He noticed the head of the baby beginning to emerge.

Realising he would have to deliver the baby himself, he quickly brought the Toyota people carrier to a halt at the nearest lay-by.

The carpenter noticed the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby’s neck and began to carefully unwrap it to allow for a safe delivery.

He said: “I was petrified at that point because the whole head was really blue, she was not breathing properly and I rubbed her down with a towel.

“She let out a little cry and then I called the ambulance.

“She is absolutely amazing, beautiful and perfect but I was so scared waiting for the ambulance, which was terrifying.

“I only have experience with delivering puppies a few times after having dogs.”

Mum-of-five Miss Cooke, 39, praised her boyfriend’s quick thinking and believed the baby’s life could have been in danger if he had not acted with such speed.

She added: “It was scary going through it. He did not have the time to think about it because it was just so quick.

“If it was not for him, I do not think she would have lived.”

The ambulance arrived shortly after the birth and took all three people to the John Radcliffe.

The baby, who was born at 5.22am at 6lb and 14oz and named Emily Eileen Thompson, is doing well.