A BABY will forever be reminded she was delivered in the back of a car - after her parents named her Lexus.

Parents Kirsteen and Stu Vaughan chose to name their baby Madison Lexus after she entered the world in the makeshift delivery suite.

The parents, from Chester-le-Street, County Durham, had been travelling to the hospital but little Madison Lexus, who wasn't due for another three weeks, decided she couldn't wait any longer.

So Mr Vaughan, 28, pulled his black Lexus saloon onto the side of the A167 dual carriageway in County Durham and delivered his daughter.

During the quick-fire birth Mr Vaughan, a traffic policeman, had to remove the umbilical cord from around the baby's neck before getting back behind the wheel and finishing the journey to the University Hospital of North Durham.

Proud mother Kirsteen, 33, a human resources manager for the NHS, said: "I had been to the hospital that morning after my waters had broken but I was sent home because they didn't think I was ready "I went home and had a bath but that was when my contractions started.

"Stu phoned the hospital and they could hear me wailing in the background so they told him to get me there quickly.

"Stu got behind the wheel of the Lexus and I got in the back and off we went.

"We had only got a few miles when the baby's head came out.

"I said to Stu that the baby was coming and he pulled the car off the road.

"He delivered our baby there and then on the side of the dual-carriageway.

"It was over in a flash, but she had the umbilical cord around her neck when she came out so Stu had to quickly remove that.

"She was blue so Stu got straight on the phone to the hospital so they were ready for us when we arrived.

"Stu's police training certainly came in handy because we had to get to the hospital as fast as we could.

"Thankfully, she was perfectly healthy."

Mother and baby, who weighed 6lbs 7oz, stayed at the hospital for six hours before being allowed home.

It was while in the hospital after the birth on October 13 last year that attention turned to the baby's name.

Kirsteen said: "We knew the baby was going to be a girl and had already decided on Madison.

"But Stu suggested we called her Lexus because she was born in the car.

"I thought it was a ridiculous idea at first but the more I thought about it the more I liked the idea.

"We didn't want to go all the way and have Lexus as the first name so we decided it was a good middle name.

"It will always be a reminder to us and to her of her strange birth."

Stu said: "I really like the name. It is totally unique and a great reminder of her birth.

"It was my idea and Kirsteen was shocked at first but came round."