Life changing

Essex carpenter pockets £100Thousand on a Scratchcard

A self-employed carpenter and father of one from Essex, gave himself the rest of the day off work after revealing £100Thousand on a scratchcard from The National Lottery.

The win couldn’t have come at a better time for James Elsey, 33, his partner Mel, and their two-year old who have been celebrating their dream-come-true start to 2018.

James bought his winning £4 Million Blue Scratchcard when he was on his way to work in central London. Stopping off to pick up his workmate, James popped into a local convenience store to buy the scratchcard which he played once he got to work.

“Before we started work I decided I’d quickly play the scratchcard. On the first line of the game I matched two diamonds and saw the prize amount was £100,000. I handed it to my apprentice, asking him to check it and when he said ‘I think you’ve won £100,000’ I very happily agreed with him.”

Time to call it a day

Not wanting to let his employer down, James put the winning scratchcard safely in his pocket and did the most urgent jobs before calling his boss to share the news and asking for the rest of the day off.

“It’s not every day you win £100,000 and my mind wasn’t on the job so I thought it might be safer for me to call it a day. On the way home I rang my partner, Mel, who thought I was joking and only believed it when I sent her a picture of the winning card. Thankfully Camelot were a lot more believing when I called, and they confirmed the win immediately.”

The pressure's off

James said the win meant much more than just the money to him and his young family – it gave them the security that self-employment couldn’t always guarantee.

“If I’m not working, I’m not earning and that has meant that holidays and days off sick always come with a little bit of worry. This win affords us much greater financial freedom and therefore, more security.

“We’ve just bought a new family home and, like most people, had expected to be paying off the mortgage for the next 25 years. Now we can pay off some of the costs of the move and take a chunk off the mortgage, and in doing so take a chunk of financial pressure off us both.”

Good luck buys a truck

While using his win to give his young family financial security is top of James’ list, there are a few treats along the way.

“I’m not sure if you’d call it a treat but I’ve been wanting to lease a new work truck for ages. Every time I was about to sign on the dotted line I worried about being committed to the monthly payments in case my work dried up. Now I can head into the Ford garage and that truck is mine!”

29th January 2018

The National Lottery has been changing the lives of winners and supporting good causes across the UK since 1994. In that time, there have been more than 7,000 new millionaires created and by playing The National Lottery you raise over £4 million for Good Causes every dayΔ.

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