Bus driver Sajjad Shariff took the woman to hospital after she had waited 75 minutes for an ambulance (Picture: Archant)

A London bus driver has been hailed a hero after rushing a woman who was about to give birth to hospital, after she waited an hour and 15 minutes for an ambulance.

Sajjad Shariff, 41, was driving the W15 bus in Leytonstone when heavily pregnant Fatim Faye, 44, flagged him down at around 11pm.

‘She came on and said “baby” and “hospital” and was breathing quickly and heavily,’ Mr Shariff explained.

The bus driver called a ‘code red’ which alerts Transport for London’s emergency control room of an urgent incident and requested an ambulance.


After 30 minutes there was no sign of one so Mr Shariff called a code red again, with Miss Faye’s partner, Deme Ndiogou, also arriving on the scene 40 minutes later.



At 12.13am, Mr Shariff decided they could no longer wait for an ambulance and drove the bus to A&E at Whipps Cross Hospital.

Ms Faye gave birth to a baby girl at 1.45am on December 12 and both are said to be doing well.

Ambulance controllers said they were mistakenly told she was nine weeks pregnant instead of nine months, so failed to pick up the call as urgent.

A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said: ‘The information initially given to our control room was that the patient was nine weeks pregnant.

‘This was corrected during a second call at 11.20pm, when it was explained she was nine months pregnant.

‘The patient’s condition had not changed at this stage and she was fully conscious and breathing normally and was not categorised as being in a life-threatening condition.

‘We would like to apologise for any upset this may have been caused.’