Police provided a blue-light escort to hospital after a Huddersfield woman went into labour unexpectedly on the busy Elland bypass.

Mary Conway gave birth to baby Peter as soon as she arrived at Calderdale Royal Hospital yesterday morning (TUES) after a dash through heavy traffic.

The drama unfolded at 9.15am as Mary, 35, and husband Marcin Bolaz, 38, were driving to the hospital in Halifax for a routine check-up and were totally unprepared for Peter’s early arrival.

As they crawled along the Elland bypass, Mary suddenly went into labour and Marcin tried to weave in and out of the heavy traffic in a desperate bid to get her to the hospital.

Traffic police in a car on the same carriageway noticed what was going on and helped clear the way to escort them to the hospital where nursing staff, who had been alerted to their arrival, rushed out to help.

Mary Conway and Marcin Bolaz of Marsh with baby Peter and children Sofia (10) and Liam (2). Peter was born at Calderdale Royal Hospital after the family were stuck in traffic on the Elland by-pass

Peter was born before they could get to the delivery room, weighing in at 6.6lbs.

Now mother and baby are both doing well – and Peter is a new baby brother for Mary’s other children Sofia, 10 and two-year-old Liam.

Speaking at the family home in Eldon Road, Marsh, Mary said: “My waters hadn’t broken and I was going to Calderdale to check everything was okay. The baby was not due for another three weeks, so I was not expecting anything to happen. It was a bit of a surprise!

“It was probably the worst time of day for it to happen. The traffic seemed okay until we had got most of the way there when it became gridlocked. My husband was driving and trying to get through the traffic.

TAKE the journey from St George's Square to CRH below

Video Loading

“When he saw the police car, he lowered the window and shouted that I was having a baby and we needed to get to the hospital.

“The police put their lights on and got the traffic out of the way and got us to the doors of accident and emergency. They got the staff out of the hospital and took our car and parked it for us.”

Mary said she had tried to find out the names of the officers who had helped to thank them personally as at the time it had all been “a bit of a blur”.

Mary Conway's baby Peter who was born at Calderdale Royal Hospital after the family were stuck in traffic on the Elland by-pass.

She said: “I would love to contact the officers involved. They were absolutely amazing. I have phoned 101 and they said they would try to find out who they were.”

She said the drama highlighted concerns about the planned closure of Huddersfield Royal Infirmary A&E and its transfer to Halifax.

She said: “The whole reason we need an A&E is because if something like this happens there is no way of getting there – especially if it’s 9 o’clock in the morning or 6 o’clock in the evening. You haven’t got a hope.

Video Loading

“In our case, traffic was grid locked both ways and it was only by chance the police were there. If we had phoned for an ambulance it would have taken much longer.”