A mother desperately turned to her husband to deliver their baby by the roadside when they couldn’t make it to hospital in time.

Laura Prince was due to give birth to the couple’s second daughter last Thursday, and planned to go to the Tunbridge Wells Hospital.

So when she went into labour several days earlier than predicted she and husband Dave headed from their Larkfield home to the Pembury hospital.

But when they were diverted off the A21 and got lost in Tonbridge, baby Poppy decided she could wait no longer.

Mr Prince had to rely on instructions from a 999 call handler.

The 25-year-old, said: “I started having very slow irregular contractions from 7am, but they became more frequent twinges from 6pm.

"I was told to wait until contractions were a minute long before leaving for hospital.

“At 10pm my waters broke and straight away the contractions were severe, lasting for a minute and coming every couple of minutes.”

The couple got straight in the car and set off from home but when they got onto the A21 near Tonbridge they found the road was shut, and were unsure about an alternative route.

“Dave pulled over on London Road in Tonbridge to find directions, but I knew at this point we didn’t have time,” said Mrs Prince, who had the couple’s first child Ellie 15 months ago.

She added: “I stood outside the car to help with my contractions rather than sitting down, and I just knew she was coming.”

Mr Prince then called an ambulance hoping paramedics could get his wife to hospital, but the call handler ended up trying to keep them both calm, and gave instructions to the soon-to-be father of two on what to do.

"We shared a moment we will never forget and to be able to say we brought our daughter into the world on our own still amazes us" - Laura Prince

Within a few minutes baby Poppy arrived, weighing 6lbs 13oz. She was born on Monday, May 22.

The couple wrapped her in a towel they had in the car and waited for the ambulance to arrive.

They were taken to the Tunbridge Wells Hospital but discharged just a couple of hours later due to Poppy’s good health.

The new mother said: “We couldn’t thank the lady from the 999 call centre enough, she kept us both calm and helped through everything.

"We shared a moment we will never forget, and to be able to say we brought our daughter into the world on our own still amazes us."