Man told wife's labour not reason to speed

A man's efforts to rush his wife to hospital when she went into labour were hindered yesterday as he was stopped for speeding twice.

Brad Hurndell and his wife Kelly were on their way to Invercargill from Queenstown when they were stopped by a highway patrol car for speeding, The Southland Times reported.

"I wound down the window as soon as he was there and said we're on our way to Invercargill, my wife's in labour ... and he said 'well that's still unacceptable' and told me I'd better slow down," Mr Hurndell said.

When it became apparent the baby was not far away, Mr Hurndell sped up again, only to be caught by a second officer.

"I had slowed down from my original speed that he got me at the first time, but still you can't really sit there at a 100k's," he said.

Recognising the urgency of the situation, the second officer took Mrs Hurndell to a nearby maternity centre in the patrol car where she gave birth to a healthy baby girl.

Police refused to say whether Mr Hurndell would receive a ticket.

Mr Hurndell said he hoped he would not get a ticket because it would probably be a "pretty expensive one".

"I guess I can always write a letter and send in a photo of the baby and hopefully someone clucky will get it down the other end and say 'oh yeah, we'll let these guys go'."

- NZPA