Media centre

Friday 27 Apr 2018

A birthday fit for a King! London Bridge station baby celebrates first birthday

Region & Route:

| Southern

London Bridge station played host to a very special birthday party today when the first – and so far only – baby to be born at the redeveloped station returned with his parents to celebrate his first birthday.

King Abraham and his family were invited to celebrate the milestone by Network Rail’s London Bridge station team – some of whom helped to deliver him a year ago today.

The drama unfolded on 27 April 2017 when King’s mum, Otaa, went into labour on platform 9 just after 4pm. Station staff were alerted and reacted quickly, putting her in a wheelchair and taking her to a first aid room before calling for an ambulance. They also put out a call on the station public address system to ask if there was a doctor able to assist. A midwife and a nurse came to help and together they helped deliver King at 4.36pm, just moments before an ambulance arrived.

Otaa said: “I felt the baby start to kick when I left my class that afternoon at South Bank University and decided I needed to go straight to Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital. However, King wasn’t waiting and decided to appear there and then at the station. I’m so grateful to all the staff at London Bridge, who were so professional and helped to bring King into the world.”

Denis Kirk, Network Rail’s London Bridge station manager, said: “Mrs Abraham was brilliant and she didn’t panic at all. We were so pleased to play a small part in King’s arrival and it was great to have the family here to celebrate his first birthday. You see some incredible things working at a station with over fifty million passengers a year, but that was certainly a day we won’t forget!”

King was presented with a birthday cake in the staff office and the station team sang ‘Happy Birthday’.