'A beautiful soul': Tributes to mother and three-year-old son killed in Lincolnshire lorry crash
13 March 2023, 18:01 | Updated: 14 March 2023, 01:28
Tributes have poured in to a mother and her young son who died when a lorry hit their broken-down car in Lincolnshire.
Nicola Courtney, 34, and Lucas Page, 3, died on the A180 near Immingham near Immingham when an articulated vehicle crashed into them at about 9.06pm Friday night, Humberside Police said.
It's thought they had broken down in a live lane prior to the horror crash.
The A180 is primarily dual carriageway with no hard shoulder.
A woman said she was forced to “swerve” in the dark to avoid their vehicle and called emergency services shortly before to the crash, The Mirror reported.
Read more: Primary school teacher stabbed 'cheating' boyfriend to death and buried body in garden, court told
Though formal identification hasn't yet taken place, Ms Courtney and Lucas have been named by their families, the force said.
Police released photographs of the pair, including one Ms Courtney posted to social media just days before the crash, showing her young son “in his overalls and wellies working with his granddad on the tractor”.
Family and friends paid tribute on social media to Ms Courney, and her "beautiful baby boy".
“I’ve never known a life without you in it,” one mourner wrote on Facebook, adding: “I’ll love you forever my best friend and cousin.”
Another said: “The most devastating news. There will be a massive hole in the family forever the craziest big cousin of them all.
"Rest in peace you and your beautiful baby boy Lucas. Love you Nicola hope you’ll be table dancing up there.”
A third said she would “cherish the memories of working with you Nic and as a friend a beautiful soul inside and out”.
The HGV that crashed into their vehicle is thought to have been travelling westbound between Stallingborough and Brocklesby, according to police.
“The full circumstances of the collision will be established during this complex investigation, and we would ask for people not to speculate about the circumstances of the crash,” Humberside Police said in a statement on Monday afternoon.
Police are asking for any further witnesses who may have seen the incident or have dashcam footage showing the vehicles during or prior to the collision to get in contact.
The force said it has voluntarily referred itself to the police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), “after we received calls about the broken down vehicle prior to the collision occurring”.
Witnesses are asked to call the force’s non-emergency number 101 quoting log 557 of 10 March.
