Rugby woman's car taken while on labour ward

Caroline Evans said she felt "very shocked"

A couple were on a hospital labour ward when their car was taken from a car park.

Caroline Evans, 30, was admitted to University Hospital in Coventry to be induced, but husband David, who needed to collect items from home for her, could not find the vehicle.

The Ford Fiesta ST-3, her "pride and joy", included a new car seat in the back for their daughter.

The hospital trust said it had CCTV cameras on all car parks.

Mrs Evans said she had had "this vision of coming home as a family of three in my little car".

Asked how she had felt about the disappearance, the mother said: "I couldn't quite believe what I was actually hearing and then... disbelief when you go down to security whilst you're having mild contractions trying to file a report."

• Listen: Our car was stolen while I was in labour

The Rugby resident said after the vehicle could not be found she thought "'this is weird, is... [my husband] just being a numpty and just can't literally locate it?'"

She added: "No, he found basically part of the lock of our vehicle, of my vehicle, actually in the car park."

'Real treat'

Mrs Evans, who was admitted on 1 February, added they had to source a new car seat "in a very short amount of time".

The mother added: "It was my first car, when I got my first full-time job. I went... 'I'm gonna have something that's a real, real treat for me'."

Mrs Evans, who said "additional cameras" were needed, said: "We were very fortunate in that we've got family around us.. [so] actually it was more of an inconvenience around getting home rather than it only being our lifeline."

West Midlands Police said a car was stolen from Clifford Bridge Road between 15:00 and 19:30 GMT.

A hospital trust spokesman said the safety patients and staff was "paramount" and it worked closely with the local policing team.

They added: "Security officers monitor our car parks 24 hours a day, seven days a week and we have further stepped up the number of patrols following this incident.

"We would continue to ask all staff and visitors to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to our security team."

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