A SEVEN-YEAR-OLD girl who calmly dialled 999 for an ambulance after her diabetic mother blacked out at the wheel has been praised by paramedics.

Caroline Price, 38, from Coundon, near Bishop Auckland, County Durham, was driving to Sainsbury’s with her daughter, Lauren, seven, in the back seat, when she suddenly felt herself slipping into unconsciousness.

Mrs Price managed to bring her car to a halt safely, but passed out at the wheel.

Fortunately, Lauren had seen her father, Darren, ring for an ambulance when her mother was taken ill on an earlier occasion.

So the Victoria Lane Academy schoolgirl used her mother’s mobile phone to ring 999 for an ambulance.

Lauren, who has a 17-year-old sister, Samantha, not only answered all of the questions from ambulance controllers, but kept talking until an emergency vehicle arrived at the scene.

Yesterday, Dave Brammer, the rapid response paramedic who attended the incident and treated Mrs Price at the scene, presented Lauren with a framed commendation from the North East Ambulance Service.

Mr Brammer said: “Lauren was absolutely superb. She stayed calm and answered all the questions we needed to know about her mum.”

Mrs Price, who has made a full recovery, said: “I’m very proud of her. She was sitting in the back when I started to feel unwell.

"I managed to pull over before collapsing, but that’s all I can remember. Everything went black. When I came round the paramedic was there, and he had pumped me full of glucose.

“I don’t know what would have happened if Lauren wasn’t there. She’s only just turned seven, but we have always told her from a young age what to do in this sort of situation. Ring 999. She’s my little star.

“She has been there when it happened before and my husband had to call for ambulance. I can’t actually remember where I stopped the car. I think Lauren gave them a rough idea of where we were and then they put a trace on the call.”

A spokesman for Diabetes UK said hypoglycaemia, when the blood sugar levels drop to a low level, “is potentially life-threatening if there is no medical assistance.”