A PROUD mum has thanked “hero” firearms officers who escorted her to hospital after she went into labour while stuck in traffic on the A13.

Metha Ramanan was travelling with her husband Nava, along the A13 in Stanford-le-Hope, heading towards Basildon when they called 999 for help as the mum-to-be went into labour.

Maldon and Burnham Standard:

Adorable - baby Abiman

With time running out to get to Basildon Hospital, officers from the firearms unit - who happened to be nearby - did not hesitate to offer support and get the family to the delivery room in the nick of time.

The firearms officers were the closest units and came to save the mum-to-be before driving her to Basildon Hospital.

Metha was close to giving birth next to her husband when the support arrived, and she was quickly put into the back of the armed response vehicle with officers driving her to the hospital.

Nava drove to hospital in his car shortly after.

Baby Abiman was safely delivered, weighing 7.2lbs.

The firearms unit jumped into action at roughly 8am on Saturday morning, with Metha giving birth within “a couple of hours of the lift”.

Yesterday, the family, including little Abiman visited police headquarters to say thank you and meet chief inspector Matt Cornish and deputy chief constable Pippa Mills.

Abiman also received a cuddly toy of Police Dog Baloo, a retired police dog which sadly lost one of her legs during an emergency deployment.

Dad-of-two Nava said: “My family and I can’t thank the firearms unit enough for their help at the weekend.

“Our sweet baby boy Abiman was delivered within couple of hours of the lift they kindly provided.

“The officers were shining examples, keep up the good work in making Essex safe.

“I’d like to end by saying thank you everyone for their kind words.”

Richard Melton, Chief Inspector of the Armed Policing Team, praised his team for going above and beyond the call of duty for the new family.

He said: “When people think of firearms officers, they associate them with significant incidents in our county.

“On Saturday, they were the quickest to respond to the calls for help of a woman in the very advanced stages of labour and a husband who was stuck in traffic.

“The woman was then rushed to hospital in one of our armed response vehicles in the nick of time.

“She was left in the care of the hospital and I am glad everything went well for her and her husband.”

The incident took place on Saturday, at roughly 8am.