How come things like this never happen to us?
A couple in the Midlands drove around for seven weeks oblivious to the fact they had a EuroMillions ticket worth a cool €500,000 strewn amongst the rubbish in their car.
The wife found the ticket amongst the other litter in her car on Thursday, as she searched for change in the car to pay for parking.
“I was desperately looking for coins to fill the metre when I spotted four Lottery tickets stuffed with rubbish in the side pocket of the driver’s door,” she said.
“I thought I better bring them into the shop to get them scanned, just in case. I could not believe my luck when I was told to ring the National Lottery office that I had won a significant amount!”
They had purchased the Quick Pick ticket from the Gandon Service Station in Emo, Portlaoise, Co. Laois for the EuroMillions draw on April 18.
“We play EuroMillions and Lotto fairly regularly but we are terrible for forgetting about the tickets and not checking the numbers,” the delighted winner said. “We usually let them accumulate before getting them checked together.
“It I wasn’t hunting for loose change in the car we might have forgotten about these tickets and it might have been too late to claim.”
The couple did not want to go public with their win but revealed that they plan to use the money for their children’s education as well as paying off the rest of their mortgage.
“We are farmers and it’s a hard graft,” she said. “Like so many people we have had a tough time financially in recent years so this is a great win and will take the pressure off. We weren’t going to take a holiday this year because of the cost, but we ended up booking a sun break in March as the weather was so bad. So it will be a special one for us. We will be able to splash out a bit!”
A Lotto spokesperson has also appealed to players to check if they are the holders of another unclaimed EuroMillions €500,000 winning ticket from April 25th. The Quick Pick ticket was purchased in the Applegreen Service Station on the Dublin Road, Cavan. The winning numbers are: 05,08,35,41,47.
Sure look, it could be you.
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