THE parents of a young woman killed in a car crash have spoken for the first time about the tragedy and said: "Nobody is to blame for her death".

TV extra Lucy McKeown, 21, of Tinkler's Road, Chorley, was travelling on the A674 Chorley Road at Withnell when her car skidded on ice into the path of an oncoming car.

She suffered fatal head injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene on Boxing Day.

This week Mr and Mrs McKeown paid tribute to the daughter "who had time for everyone".

Her father David, 54, said: "She was a lovely girl who would phone us every day. We are a very close family. Words cannot describe what I am feeling."

Her mother Kathleen, also 54, said: "She was nice looking on the outside but beautiful on the inside as well. She was well thought of by everybody."

More than 200 people attended Lucy's funeral at Overdale Crematorium, Bolton, on Thursday, January 3.

David, who used to run Adlington Used Car Spares before selling it, said: "There were too many people to fit in the crematorium.

"Two of her friends from primary school did a tribute to her which was really touching."

Lucy, a pharmacy student, was in her third year at Manchester University.

She was travelling in a Ford Fiesta to a see her boyfriend, Paul Stockley, of Moss Hall Road, Accrington, before going on to a party in Blackburn.

Her car skidded on a bend outside the Hoghton Arms into the path of an oncoming MG Montego car driven by Kevin Nelson, 45, of Church Street, Higher Walton.

He received treatment for slight injuries at Chorley Hospital but was discharged later.

Kathleen said that she did not feel anyone was to blame. She said: "The ambulance skidded and the fire brigade skidded as well.

"It was black ice. I don't know whether there should have been salt on the road.

"I cannot blame anyone. It wasn't the other driver's fault."

In her spare time Lucy was an extra on TV programmes such as Cold Feet and Hollyoaks.

She also worked part-time from the age of 14 at Hillcrest Animal Hospital, Chorley.

Staff there closed the hospital to attend the funeral. Kathleen said: "We had owls, hedgehogs and even a pheasant stay with us because Lucy brought them home to care for them."

One of the 80 sympathy cards in the McKeowns' front room reads: "If I had a daughter I would have wanted her to be just like Lucy."