A PREGNANT woman who crashed her car into a ditch after blacking out while driving on the M4, would have frozen to death if two police officers had not accidentally discovered her.

Ashma Begum, 21, lay freezing and unconscious in her car in long grass just past Junction 18 of the motorway.

She had blacked out before her car hit the central reservation and crashed off the westbound carriageway.

Ashma, who was on her way home to Newport after a shopping trip to Swindon, was unconscious in her car - not visible from the motorway - for 45 minutes.

She told the Gazette she feels lucky to be alive after two officers from Avon and Somerset's road policing unit spotted the tail-lights of her car while they were chasing a speeding vehicle.

PCs Alan Taylor and Rob Petty were completing their usual tour of the region's motorways at around 9.30pm on February 22 - one of the coldest days of the year.

PC Taylor said this week: "She was pretty lucky to have been found at all, especially if you think about the volume of traffic that passes Junction 18. "This is one of the more extreme cases that we see, but it is what we are here to do."

Ashma, an assistant retail manager, was very cold when police got to her in the freezing temperatures. She had suffered whiplash and some cuts and bruises.

The officers immediately called an ambulance and sat with Ashma trying to wake her.

Amazingly, her sister then called Ashma's mobile phone and police learned she was nine weeks pregnant.

Ashma, on a visit last Thursday to Almondsbury's road policing headquarters to thank the two officers, told the Gazette: "My sister was able to give my medical details over the phone and the baby is fine.

"I do feel pretty lucky - it was a wonder I didn't catch pneumonia."

Although she remembers little about the crash, Ashma said she was waiting behind two lorries overtaking.

"I am always cautious about lorries and try to avoid overtaking them as much as possible," she said.

"I blacked out and must have crashed into the central reservation because the right-hand side of my car was smashed in."

Ashma was taken to Frenchay Hospital and was checked over before her husband Sadik Miah came to get her the next morning.

Added Ashma: "I just wanted to say thank you to the two officers. They have told me I should get back driving as soon as possible but I am a bit reluctant at the moment."