AMBULANCE staff have been praised by a Ledbury couple whose new baby daughter was not prepared to wait for the ride to hospital.

Baby Kelly was born in the back of the ambulance parked in Lawnside Road, when mum Gina Hoskins gave birth just 30 minutes after going into labour.

The ambulance had arrived within ten minutes of being called with the aim of taking Miss Hoskins to Hereford Hospital.

She and partner Adrian Baker have nothing but praise for the ambulance crew, who realising that baby was on its way, decided to stay put and get to work on the breach delivery.

"They thought at first I was going to make it to hospital and they put me on the trolley," said Miss Hoskins.

"But I said 'this baby's coming'."

Kelly was born at 5.15pm on Thursday, December 12, weighing in at 6lbs 10oz. She was not due until December 16.

Mr Baker said: "She just decided that she didn't want to wait any longer.

"We just want to say thank you very much to the ambulance crew."

The crew were paramedic Neil Turner and technicians Simon Burrows and Tom Haunton.

Mr Turner and Mr Burrows are no strangers to the dramas of labour, having delivered a baby in a lift at the new Hereford County Hospital earlier this year.

Mr Burrows said of his latest experience: "It didn't seem that urgent to start with. Miss Hoskins said she was happy to walk to the ambulance. However, by the time she'd settled on the stretcher she said she wanted to push.

"It was nice to see the parents so overjoyed at the end. That is its own reward."

Afterwards, Miss Hoskins went by ambulance to the hospital's delivery suite, where the midwife praised the crew for a job well done.

Ambulance Service spokesman, clinical supervisor Martin Fulloway, added: "We are really, really proud of them. It was a breach birth, which is a rare occurrence for a paramedic and crew to come across."

Kelly is Miss Hoskins' second child. Her first, Jordan, was born after a labour lasting some 14 hours.