A 22-year-old British traveller says she has been left with facial numbness, missing teeth and lasting scars after a motorbike crash on Koh Tao, Thailand, shattered her jaw.
Tia Lockey, from Durham, was at the beginning of a long-planned trip through Asia when she volunteered to travel first to a remote beach in the early hours of March 14. A fellow traveller had offered to take the group down one at a time, saying the journey would take about 10 minutes.
Found injured in the jungle
Lockey remembers only the first minutes of the motorcycle ride before waking on the jungle floor, concussed, badly hurt and covered in blood. She has no memory of the crash itself.
"My dream trip I had been planning for years had been stripped away from me because of a lift to the beach," she said.
Her friend became concerned when the motorcycle rider did not return to collect her. Lockey had shared her live location details, on her phone the previous night, allowing her friend to follow it and find her and the other traveller, both injured.
Doctors said Lockey had shattered her jaw in two places, lost two teeth and suffered deep facial wounds. She was taken by emergency speedboat to a hospital on Koh Samui, which she said was around three hours away.
Two operations and lasting damage
Lockey arrived with her face heavily bandaged because of wounds to her upper lip, forehead, left eye, chin and scalp. She spent two weeks bedridden in hospital, with her mouth wired shut after jaw surgery.
She later returned to the UK for another operation in May. The eight-hour procedure followed following the severe break, which she said had been described to her as resembling "cornflake bits".
"I couldn't chew for four months," Lockey said. "When I woke up from the eight hour surgery my teeth and bite were completely different."
She was left with an open bite, meaning her front teeth no longer meet, and says she now struggles to eat with them. Lockey is still attending regular hospital appointments and hopes to have her missing teeth replaced by the end of the year.
Recovery has affected confidence
Nerve damage has left Lockey's bottom lip and chin completely numb. She says she may not notice if food or toothpaste is on her chin, and relies on her sisters to alert her when they are out.
The injuries also affected her confidence and mood, initially making her reluctant to leave home or see friends and family. Six months after the crash, she says she is beginning to adjust.
Lockey has documented her recovery on TikTok, saying it has given her a sense of purpose and brought supportive responses. She hopes her experience encourages people to stay safe.
Pictures courtesy of Daily Mirror
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29 September 2026
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