A customer asked Westoe Travel to book him a trip, then told the agent to hold the booking as his wife had just given birth to a baby girl.

Owner Graeme Brett said the agency received an enquiry on Tuesday from a Newcastle United season-ticket holder who’d just found out he’d got a ticket to the Carabao Cup final at Wembley next Sunday, 26 February.

It’s the first time in 24 years that Newcastle has reached a cup final and Magpie fans had to enter a ballot to get one of the 33,000 tickets allocated to the club.

Graeme told Travel Gossip: “He sent a message on Facebook messenger saying he’d just that minute found out he’d been allocated a ticket. He’d seen we were offering hotel-rail packages for the game and he wanted to book with us.

“We rang him back within 20 minutes with options and he said: ‘Can I ring you back in half an hour as my wife’s just given birth?’

“He must’ve found out he’d got the tickets while he was in the delivery room and messaged us straight away, while he was sat holding his wife’s hand while she was in labour.

“When he rang back, we didn’t get much information about the new arrival as he wouldn’t stop talking about how excited he was about getting the ticket.

“There are 40,000 season-ticket holders and fewer than 33,000 tickets, so fans were divided into seven priority period ballots.

“He was in the seventh priority period. He told us his friend had already got a ticket in an earlier ballot. He thought he’d missed out, so he was delighted to find out he was going.

“We asked him if his wife had had a boy or a girl, and he told us she’d had a girl.”

Graeme added: “As a travel agent, you do see all sorts, but this is a first for us and it’s right up there as far as bizarre bookings go.”