MOTHER-TO-BE Lea Foster was hoping for a quick delivery for her baby - but she never expected to have her in the back of a car on the way to hospital.

Baby Lucey was born in a lay-by off a busy main road, when she decided that she was not going to wait any longer to come into the world.

She was helped by her mother's friend, Adele O'Brien, who followed instructions from paramedics on her mobile phone.

Lucey was born in the back of her uncle's car on Sunday morning, just five minutes after her mother left home in Lemington, Newcastle, to go to the city's Royal Victoria Infirmary.

Single mother Ms Foster, 26, said: "I just got in the car with my mum and the next thing I knew I could see the baby's head.

"We had to pull over, because I knew the baby was coming."

Her uncle, James Curry, 55, was forced to pull the car into a lay-by at the side of the Scotswood Road - the main route into the city centre.

As Ms Foster knelt in the back seat, Ms O'Brien took instructions from the hospital.

Legal secretary Ms O'Brien, 27, said: "I just tried to keep Lea calm, but there was no way the baby was going to wait any longer."

Lucey arrived before an ambulance reached them and mother and baby were taken to hospital.

The new arrival weighed in at 81b 9oz and both are recovering from their ordeal in hospital.

Ms Foster, an NHS secretary, said last night: "She's absolutely gorgeous."