THE world may have ground to a halt because of the adverse weather this week but that wasn’t going to stop little Samuel Hanlon making his appearance right on time.

Mum Joanna Passey and dad Brendan Hanlon from Upper Lambourn, near Hungerford, jumped in the car on Tuesday night to head to hospital after Joanna’s contractions started.

But just a mile after leaving their home disaster struck when a petrol tanker jack-knifed, blocking the road.

“I thought I was going to end up having the baby right there,” said Joanna, 33.

“There was just no way we could get through but all I could think was ‘get me to a hospital’.”

After Brendan dialled 999, luck – as it turned out – was on the couple’s side when a convoy of emergency service vehicles came to their aid including seven ambulance units, four fire service crews and a host of police.

Some had been summoned to attend to the jack-knifed lorry.

The couple were supposed to be travelling to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford for the birth but because of the weather Swindon’s Great Western Hospital prepared a room and the couple were taken there by ambulance.

“We left the house at around 8pm and got to the hospital by 10.45pm – it was the longest 11 miles I’ve ever experienced,” Joanna joked.

“The journey almost seemed longer than the birth.”

After a 13 hour labour Samuel John Hanlon finally made his grand entrance at 12.04pm on Wednesday weighing a healthy 8lbs 13oz.

But that wasn’t the end of the drama.

Brendan had to go back to where the couple had abandoned their Volvo Estate with strangers. Even after he got the car back, the snow and ice surrounding Lambourn was so deep that the devoted dad had to trek through the snow to get back to his newborn son.

“That’s real devotion for you, isn’t it?” Joanne added.

Mum and baby were ready to be discharged from the hospital on Thursday but kind staff at the GWH allowed the family to stay at the hospital for an extra night yesterday as the snow deepened outside.

Hospital spokeswoman Teri Stevans said: “While the snow has caused much disruption on the roads we’re glad that this story at least has had a happy ending.”