A shopping trip in Stratford turned into a rescue mission for one Custom House man after he spotted a baby in need on the way home.

A shopping trip in Stratford turned into a rescue mission for one Custom House man after he spotted a baby in danger.

Ivan Teece, of Gresham Road, was on a 473 bus when he spotted a mother pulled over on West Ham Lane shouting for help because her baby wasn’t breathing.

He said: “The baby’s head was leant right back and the woman was standing there with her just crying and screaming. There were about 20 people standing around, watching, but I think everyone was in shock. They just didn’t know what to do.

“It’s difficult with babies, and other people’s children, you don’t want to upset anyone and they’re just so delicate. But I ran from the top floor, through the bus, and shouted to the driver ‘Stop the bus, stop the bus!’”

Ivan, who just left his job as a systems manager at London City Airport, left the bus and ran over to reassure mother Holly and took ten-month-old Summer Hodgson in his arms.

Ivan, 24, said: “She was screaming, ‘my baby’s not breathing, she’s not breathing!’ I was running with the baby in my arms. She was blue at this point and it was just awful to look down on.

“There was a moment when I thought she was going to die in my arms. But then I heard a gasp of air and then she was groaning. When we got into the medical centre, about 100 yards away and the baby started crying, it was the happiest sound.”

A friend said: “Ivan is a real hero. As he was runing he was praying to God. Perhaps running with the baby may have dislodged something, we will never know.”

Doctors said Summer’s airways were blocked from tonsilitis but Holly says she is now doing well. To thank him, she has invited Ivan to Summer’s first birthday party in May at their home.

Holly said: “I am so proud of Ivan and I will always be eternally grateful to him for what he did that day.” Ivan is still baffled about what saved baby Summer.

He said: “I don’t know what did it, maybe just me holding her and running. Afterwards I remember I could not stop shaking.”