A pregnant learner driver was so keen to get on the road that she took a driving test whilst in labour, hiding the contractions from her examiner.

The 20-year-old was disappointed when her waters broke in the early hours of 30 August, a month before her due date and the day she had scheduled to take her driving test.

But determined young mum Emma French wasn't going to let a baby scupper her chances, having failed her test once and having to wait four months to book another.

She battled through four painful contractions during the exam and drove herself to hospital after passing her test with a score of 10 out of 16. Rejecting offers of a lift to the maternity ward, nurses discovered she was already 3cm dialated when she arrived.

Explaining why she laboured on, despite pleas from her own mother and boyfriend to ignore the driving test and go to hospital, she said:

"I had failed my test in March and had to wait until August for another. I had to do it because I knew if I didn't I wouldn't have another chance until the baby was a little older. So I didn't tell my instructor or the examiner what was happening and just got on with it"

French, from West Lothian, Livingston, spent another six hours in labour at the hospital and baby Eva was born at 7.30pm that day.

She said: "The nurses in the hospital were very confused because I was getting congratulations cards for both my baby and the driving test."