A long-serving parish and district councillor has today paid a strong tribute to the Cherry Willingham couple who died in the level crossing tragedy in the village yesterday.

Cllr. Mrs. Irmgard Parrott spoke about the deaths of 80-year-old Peter Smith and his wife Betty Evelyn Smith, 79, on the railway line at just before noon on Wednesday. Cllr Mrs. Parrott, who has lived with her husband Len in Cherry Willingham for forty-four years, is a former West Lindsey District Council chairman with sixteen years' service. She has also served on Cherry Willingham Parish Council for eighteen years.

"I only met the Smiths very briefly when they contacted me about a drainage problem in Fiskerton Road where they lived," she said. But their deaths are a huge tragedy in a village the size of ours. I feel very sad that this has happened to them and wish it could have been avoided.

"And I feel desperately sorry for their family. It must be absolutely horrendous and all our thoughts and prayers are with them."