A Disneyland worker who died in a horror crash involving three cars and a lorry has been remembered by her heartbroken family – five years on from the tragedy.
Courtney Davies, 24, was killed in December 2020 when her red MG was struck with such force it was thrown off the A15 in Lincolnshire during a multi-vehicle pile-up.
The crash, involving a red Mercedes HGV, a black Renault Clio and an orange BMW, happened just north of Caenby Corner at around 5.40pm.
Emergency services rushed to the scene but tragically, nothing could be done to save her.
Now, five years later, her family have opened up about the devastating night that changed their lives forever – and the chaos and heartbreak of finding out about her death themselves before officers could formally confirm it.
Her mother Ginny said: ‘When it happened, it wasn’t really the classic knock on the door out of nowhere. We knew that something had happened.
‘We were trying to get in touch with Courtney and she would always either text or call us to let us know she was okay. And that particular night we couldn’t get a hold of her.’
Emma, her sister, recalled how she and their father got in the car to search for her after hearing about a crash on the same road Courtney had been travelling.
‘Me and my dad decided that we would go out and go look for her because we had heard there had been an accident on the A15. The road that she was travelling on. My dad and I got in the car. It was just a normal kind of winter’s night I suppose. No kind of rain or snow or anything like that but it was dark.’
Back at home, Ginny and her other daughter Amy were anxiously watching the driveway.
‘Amy and I were looking up the driveway and we saw headlights and we saw headlamps and we ran out and we saw police written on the side so in that moment I just think I knew,’ said Ginny.
Emma said she knew something was terribly wrong when her sister’s boyfriend called.
‘I picked up the phone and I could hear my mum wailing in the background so upset. I could hear officer talking and their kind of radios going off. And it was my sister’s boyfriend and he said ‘I’m so sorry but Courtney’s died’.
‘And so I had to tell my dad in the car and so we turned around, we went home and everybody was just in pieces.’
Courtney, who was born in Kentucky, USA, had lived a ‘remarkable life’, studying Events Management at Sheffield Hallam University and working at Disneyland in Florida before becoming an events manager back in the UK.
‘Courtney was my eldest daughter,’ Ginny said. ‘A lot of people have said that she lit up a room. She loved to sing, especially country music and she would sing everywhere. She was kind-hearted. She had a wicked sense of humour and a giggle to go with it.’
The crash was caused by lorry driver Anthony Alderson, 67, who pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving.
He had veered off the road slightly to avoid an oncoming HGV and overcorrected, clipping three vehicles including Courtney’s, whose car was forced off the road.
‘She was doing nothing wrong. It’s a busy road,’ said Ginny. ‘There was a LGV going the other way that stretch is quite narrow. He felt he was a little close to an HGV coming the other way.
‘So he moved over slightly and started to go off the road and he then went to move back over and over-corrected. So that he ended up clipping three other vehicles and then Courtney. Her car was taken off the road with the impact. And she was the only one who didn’t walk away that night.’
The court heard Alderson, from Peterlee in County Durham, had driven lorries for more than four decades and had a clean licence.
He was banned from driving for three years, given a 7pm to 7am curfew for six months back in August 2021, but has since retired.
‘My sister was that light in the room and I think it has left a hole in the family that can never be replaced,’ Emma said.