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A student paramedic got some unexpected hands-on work experience when a woman went into labour in a busy city centre.
Jon Wood, 27, a student paramedic from the University of Worcester, noticed a heavily pregnant woman in pain and distress outside the Bullring shopping centre in Birmingham.
Seeing she was clutching her maternity notes, he went to check she was OK - whereupon it became apparent that her baby was well on its way.
With an ambulance en route but still 15 minutes away, Mr Wood took control of the scene.
"The lady's waters hadn't broken but she said she could feel the baby was coming," he told the Herts and Essex Observer, "I had just enough time to make her comfortable and begin my assessment, when she moved her hand away I could see the baby's head."
A motorcycle paramedic, Steve Cooper, arrived shortly after, and he and Jon delivered the woman's baby boy together.
The mum and baby were wrapped in coats to keep them warm before the ambulance arrived and whisked them off to hospital.
"Thankfully, it was a normal and safe delivery with no complications and both mother and baby were fine," Jon said.
Although still a student, Mr Wood has already attended numerous births.
"I've lost count of the number of babies I have delivered but this will definitely be a very memorable one," he said.
His tutor, Robert Dudley, head of nursing and paramedic science at the University of Worcester, said that Jon was a 'credit to the profession and the university'.
"His education and training equipped him with the knowledge and skills necessary to remain calm and professional in what were difficult circumstances. Jon is going to make an outstanding paramedic."
Jon will work as an ambulance technician at the West Midlands Ambulance Service in West Bromwich once he has completed his degree.