A mother-to-be and her husband were turned away from a hospital where she was expecting to give birth.

Samantha Apps and husband Chris are furious that the maternity unit at Eastbourne District General Hospital sent them 20 miles to Hastings instead.

Mrs Apps went into labour only hours after a procedure to induce her baby was cancelled.

Mr Apps said: "My wife felt like it was Christmas with the baby Jesus because there was no room at the inn.

"To be honest she was scared. She just wanted to give birth and they wouldn't take her."

Mrs Apps, 21, was taken straight into theatre at the Conquest and baby Megan was delivered using forceps. She weighed in at 8lb 13oz.

Mr Apps, 27, was today meeting a ward manager at Eastbourne to discuss why his wife was turned away.

He said: "I want to know who messed up, why it was messed up and that it is not going to happen to someone else. There has been no explanation whatsoever and I need to have answers."

The couple went to the Eastbourne hospital just before 8pm on December 23 for their appointment.

They had been told the birth of their second child would be induced because Mrs Apps had been in pain for the last two weeks of the pregnancy and the baby was expected to be large.

But when they arrived a midwife told them Mrs Apps would not be induced because there had been an emergency.

HGV mechanic Mr Apps, of Langney Rise, Eastbourne, said: "As we walked through the door we were met by a midwife who said, 'We've been trying to contact you because we can't induce you tonight'."

After two hours the couple decided to go home and return the next day. But in the early hours of Christmas Eve Mrs Apps went into labour naturally.

Mr Apps said: "I phoned Eastbourne hospital at 3am and said the baby was definitely coming. They told me on the phone they were going to have to refuse us because they'd had a couple of emergencies through the evening and we would have to go to the Conquest Hospital in Hastings.

"They didn't mention transport or anything - it's fortunate I had some. Instead of a five-minute drive, we had to go about 35 minutes."

Alan Randall, chief executive of the trust which runs the hospital, said it had been exceptionally busy.

He said: "We had eight deliveries on December 23 and eight on Christmas Eve. We had an unusually high number of complications with those deliveries. Extra staff were called in.

"It was considered, with the unit under such pressure, that it would not be safe to induce the baby. She then went into labour on Christmas Eve and a decision was made that it would be safer to transfer her to the Conquest. We believe it was the right decision."