A baby has been given an unusual middle name after she was born in a moving car on the way to hospital.

Corin Stokes gave birth to Lyla May Zafira Stokes on her way to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Mrs Stokes, 31, of Green Drift, Royston, delivered the baby herself in the back seat of the family’s Vauxhall Zafira, while husband Paul continued to drive towards the hospital.

She said: “It’s not the sort of thing you expect to happen, though I knew she wouldn’t be long, as my other children have been early.

“We were driving through Harston, and my husband just kept going because he thought we had a bit of time left.

“It was a bit of a shock for him when I leaned forward holding a baby.

“I wasn’t really scared, it just happened and the adrenaline took over.”

Eventually the family arrived at the hospital, much to the surprise of staff.

Mrs Stokes said: “We’d called ahead because it was the middle of the night, but I don’t think the message got through clearly, because when we got there the hospital was all locked up.

“When the midwife came down she wasn’t expecting me to be carrying a baby wrapped in a blanket.”

Mother and baby are both doing well, and Lyla is now home and has met brother Liam, four, sister Freya, two, and half-brother Shane, 13.

Her parents decided to give her an unusual middle name to mark the circumstances of her birth.

Mrs Stokes said: “We’d already decided on May, and my husband wanted to add Zafira after what happened.

“It’ll certainly be a good story to tell her when she’s older.”