Health chiefs today launched an investigation after a woman gave premature birth in a car after being locked out of the maternity unit at Bradford Royal Infirmary.

The woman's family say they were told to go to the night entrance of the maternity unit where staff would be standing by when they rang the hospital to say she was in heavy labour and they were driving her in from their Bradford home.

They are now lodging an official complaint to Bradford Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, and taking legal advice about the incident, which happened in the early hours of the morning.

The day entrance to the maternity unit is locked in the evenings and patients are directed to the other entrance at night for security reasons.

But the family - who do not want to be named because under the Muslim faith they believe the incident could bring shame on them - say the night doors were locked and there was no response, even though they banged, kicked shouted and rang the bell for about five minutes.

In the meantime, according to the family, the distressed mum collapsed to the ground and was helped back to the car, where she gave birth to a five-pound baby boy.

The family say it took a further five minutes before they were able to summon help from hospital staff.

Today, a spokesman for Bradford Hospitals NHS Trust said: "The trust is extremely concerned about this matter and has launched an immediate investigation into the circumstances surrounding it.

"We apologise for any distress caused to the family, but it would be inappropriate to comment further until all the facts are known."

Bradford West Labour MP Marsha Singh, who has taken up the case on behalf of the family, said: "I am extremely concerned that this seems to have gone so drastically wrong.

"It is a situation which no-one should ever find themselves in and there could have been a tragedy."

He said he was writing to hospital trust chief executive David Jackson about the complaint.

Labour ward Councillor Sajawal Hussain, who is also helping the family said: "I am very saddened and concerned. This should never have happened. It was very distressing for the family."

One of the friends, who also translated for the husband, said: "Even by the time the baby was born no-one had answered.

"We carried on banging and kicking the door for several minutes after the birth. Then nurses came out and took them into hospital. The baby was very cold and they gave him special heat treatment.

"It was terrible. The mother was crying and very upset. We were all distressed."

Both mum and baby, who was due to be born on February 19, are now said to be doing well.

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