AN heroic Upper Gornal trainee ambulance call worker was handed a baptism of fire when she helped deliver a baby who had stopped breathing over the phone.

Danielle Byng, of Cyprus Avenue, sprang into action after receiving a phone call when a woman went into labour on her own in her brother's bathroom.

The 28-year-old, who had only been in her job since August, answered the call from Victoria McKenna and realised immediately the baby was about to be born after she was having regular contractions.

But the situation didn't run smoothly after little Lewis was born on Tuesday November 13 when he was not breathing and turned purple. By this time Victoria's brothers girlfriend Sophie Stevens had arrived and spoke to Danielle over the phone.

Quick-thinking Danielle, who had only been through a month's first-aid training before taking on the job, remained calm and urged Victoria to stimulate Lewis with some dry towels. This technique worked and he is now safe and well.

The former Bishop Milner Catholic School student, who used to work in a bank, met mum Victoria, from Erdington and baby Lewis, for the first time at West Midlands Ambulance Service Headquarters at Merry Hill last Thursday (November 29).

Modest Danielle, who works as a trainee Emergency Medical Dispatcher at the Merry Hill base, insisted she was just doing job. She said: "It was the longest 15 minutes of my life, it felt like it went on for hours. I was thinking how was I going to do this?' "When I answered the call the lady was having continuous contractions and was in a lot of pain and was completely on her own in the house.

"She was having difficulty telling me the address. Then a relative came home and I persuaded the mother to let her into the bathroom and then she told me she could see the head already.

"I guided the relative through the birth and told them what to do, but when the baby was born it was purple and not breathing so I told her to rub its back with a dry towel and then it started breathing.

"I have never felt so relieved in my life.

"I burst in to tears after the call. Its the best job in the world. But I can't understand what all the fuss was about, I was just doing my job.

"It was amazing to meet Lewis and see the end result."