SummaryOf 372 pregnant women previously delivered by caesarean section, 199 (53 per cent) were allowed to labour at Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital in 1985 and 1986. Previous caesarean section performed before labour or during normal labour increased the likelihood of being allowed to labour in the subsequent pregnancy compared with a first caesarean section during abnormal labour. Vaginal delivery was four times more likely in the group who had not previously laboured. Half the women who did not have an‘unavoidable' indication for elective repeat caesarean section had X-ray pelvimetry which contributed towards selection for planned labour but did not correlate well with outcome. Abnormal labour and a diagnosis of fetal distress were both more likely to recur in women allowed to labour whose previous caesarean section had been for these reasons.