Story By: Georgina Jadikovska, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash

A man from Germany who forgot his pregnant wife at an almost deserted rest stop in the middle of the night after a pee break only realised she was missing after he had travelled more than 50 kilometres (31 miles).

The 28-year-old man from the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia left his pregnant 28-year-old wife at a rest stop on the Federal Motorway 3 in the Erlangen-Hochstadt district, and drove off with his car shortly after midnight on Sunday morning.

According to local media, the couple were on their way home from Upper Bavaria in southern Germany when they decided to take a short break at a rest stop near the Pommersfelden exit in the Bamberg district.

The man said that when he climbed out of the vehicle, his pregnant wife and their 11-month-old baby were still in the back seat of the car and he had not noticed she was absent when he got back to the vehicle.

The pregnant woman had climbed out of the vehicle after him in order to go to the bathroom as well.

When the man returned to the vehicle he immediately drove off without noticing that his five months pregnant wife was no longer in the vehicle, and he left her without a mobile phone or a jacket in the almost deserted rest stop which was still cold as it was the middle of the night.

The man only noticed his wife’s absence near the Wiesentheid municipality in the Kitzingen district which is 50 kilometres (31 miles) away from the rest stop where the family took their break. He immediately turned around to pick her up when he realised his mistake.

Meanwhile, the woman had borrowed a mobile phone from a random driver and called the police at 1am, after which a police patrol picked her up.

The family was reunited halfway through the man’s attempt to return to her.