When baby Mistry decided to arrive a bit too hurriedly into the big wide world her dad Bhupendra had no time to panic.

As his wife went into labour at their home in Clayton Heights, Queensbury, he found himself becoming an impromptu midwife as he helped deliver the bouncing baby girl in the back of the family Alfa Romeo on their driveway as they tried to get to hospital for the birth.

Engineer Bhupendra was called into action when events moved very swiftly after his wife’s waters broke just as she was getting into the back seat of the car.

The couple had already phoned for an ambulance as Sulventi’s contractions had become more frequent, but when they started coming in a rush, they decided to try and dash to hospital in the car.

But, just as she got into the back seat, the infant’s head suddenly popped out, and within minutes their new 6lbs 12oz baby girl was born.

Fortunately, Bhupendra had phoned the midwife on his mobile phone as the drama unfolded, and he put his phone on loudspeaker so that he could hear her instructions about what to do over the screams of the baby and her mother.

Neighbours who become alerted to the flurry of activity on the Mistry’s driveway rallied round with towels and water to help.

Recalling the frantic drama of last Thursday, and the moment he became a dad and midwife at the same time, Bhupendra said: “The baby just slid out and dropped into my wife’s pyjamas. I had to put the midwife who was talking me through it on to my mobile’s loudspeaker because my wife was yelling so much – I couldn’t hear a thing.

“All the neighbours were out to see what was going on and they were dashing about bringing towels. By the time the ambulance arrived I’d pulled her out of the pyjama bottoms and put her on my wife’s tummy all wrapped up to keep warm.”

Because paramedics did not want to move mum and baby with the umbilical cord still attached, they told Mr Mistry to drive them to the maternity unit at Bradford Royal Infirmary with the ambulance in front and a fast response car behind to escort them safely.

At the BRI, mum and baby, whom the couple have still to name, were both declared well.

Mr Mistry had been on the nightshift at engineering firm Borg Warner on the Euroway Trading estate when his wife had rung to say her labour had started.

“The pains were coming every half hour when I left work but when I got home they were coming every 15 minutes. I rang the midwives and they said stay calm and come in when they get to every couple of minutes but by the time they were coming every five minutes, Sulventi’s waters had broken and we decided to get going – except we only got as far as the car,” he said.

“I only had the car valeted a week ago, it’s just as well really,” added Mr Mistry who says he won’t be giving up his factory daytime job for a new career in midwifery – just yet!