Baby Carly is oblivious to her frantic pitstop arrival in the world - after being born on the front seat of a car on a garage forecourt.

Her parents Lee Fitzgerald and Laura Flood were dashing to hospital in his Peugeot 207 when the little girl decided to make an early entrance.

But as Lee, 32, a trainee plumber, was just a mile from the hospital, he realised they still would not make it in time.

And seeing an ambulance parked on a garage forecourt, he decided to stop and get Laura and the baby swift medical attention.

Carly arrived a few minutes later with a paramedic making sure both mum and baby were safe.

Speaking from her home in Vicarage Street, Faversham, Laura said it was an experience she will never forget.

She said: "I started to get contractions and so Lee said we had better get to the hospital quickly. But I just had to push because the baby wasn't going to wait.

"Her head appeared as we were driving around Rheims Way and we were both starting to panic.

"Then Lee spotted the ambulance on the forecourt of the Peugeot garage and decided to swing around the roundabout and get help. We had the car heater blasting away to keep the baby warm and the paramedic was great.

"The garage staff were fantastic, too, and looked after my six-year-old daughter, Abigail who had been in the back."

Carly was born four days early but weighed a healthy 7lb 8oz. Immediately after the birth, she and Laura were taken to Kent and Canterbury Hospital to be checked over.

Laura, whose mum Wendy works in the Three Horseshoes pub at Staplestreet, added: "It was quite traumatic and emotional at the time but thankfully we are both well. I just never imagined I would give birth in the front passenger seat of a car."