Pharmacy assistant Jasmine Grass is used to dealing with patients in a hurry at her local doctors' surgery.But the grandmother spoke of her shock at becoming emergency midwife on Thursday after her daughter gave birth in the passenger seat of her car in the middle of a Suffolk village.

Pharmacy assistant Jasmine Grass is used to dealing with patients in a hurry at her local doctors' surgery.

But the grandmother spoke of her shock at becoming emergency midwife on Thursday after her daughter gave birth in the passenger seat of her car in the middle of a Suffolk village.

Little Purdie Woodlow surprised her whole family by arriving into the world in a rush on a cold winter's night - less than an hour after her mother went into labour.

Carla Grass, 25, from Hockwold, said she called her mother, who also lives in the village, at 3.50am on December 5 after feeling “uncomfortable” a week before her due date.

But just minutes into their journey to the West Suffolk Hospital, Miss Grass's second child arrived in the passenger seat of her mother's Ford Mondeo after making an emergency stop at Culford, near Bury St Edmunds.

Mrs Grass, 49, who works at Feltwell Surgery, dropped her mobile phone to catch her grandchild, said she could not believe how quick the labour was.

“I was a bit shaky I have to admit, but luckily everything went well and she cried as soon as she was born, which was a relief,” she said.

Five minutes after baby Purdie's arrival at 4.48am, paramedics arrived to take her to hospital to warm her up, before being allowed to go home later that evening.

Part-time hairdresser Miss Grass, who left partner Robert Woodlow and two-year-old Alfie at home during the rush labour, said she was grateful to her mother for acting as a stand-in midwife.

“I would have liked to have made it to hospital, but it was so quick. One minute I had strong pains and the next minute I needed to push and Purdie came straight away. It was not scary at the time. It was so quick; I did not have time to think,” she said.