Life changing

£1Million Lotto loot for Louth couple

A Lotto ticket worth £1Million lay unchecked on a kitchen counter for a week before a couple from Louth finally realised they were sitting on a fortune.

Cooking up £1Million

Barry Coupland, 75, and his wife Brenda, 74, simply did not realise they were millionaires, as Barry routinely buys and checks his tickets.

"I play two lines on Lotto every Wednesday and Saturday but I only get the tickets checked when I go to buy the following week’s tickets. This time when I handed my tickets over, the cashier told me that they couldn’t pay it out as we needed to ring Camelot.

"They said they could only pay up to £200 instore so I was rubbing my hands thinking I could surprise my wife with some flowers - £200 or £300 was going to be a real treat, it didn’t even cross my mind that it could be any more. The most I had won before was £70 so this was going to be a fantastic surprise."

Barry immediately rushed home where he told Brenda about his encounter in the shop. It was only following the phone call with Camelot that it was confirmed they had actually won a lot more than £200 – it was a cool £1Million!

Brenda said, "Barry is partially deaf so I was the one who spoke to Camelot on the phone. I wish I could have captured the moment I found out we were millionaires. I think the colour must have drained from my face, I was just in absolute shock.

I had one million pounds on my kitchen table for over a week and I didn’t even realise!"

Poker face party

But the celebrations were put on hold shortly after the win was confirmed as the pair prepared to welcome 70 guests to their annual summer garden party.

Brenda, a former school administrator, said, "There was still a lot of work to do in getting the house ready for the party. We might have been millionaires but we still had to clean the garden chairs and prepare food for our guests.

"On the day, we didn’t tell a soul that we had won a million. We just acted as if nothing had changed."

Shopping list

The first item on their millionaire shopping list was a brand new Mercedes Benz C200 for Barry which he bought days after the win.

"I’ve been looking at new cars for some time but now I get to buy my dream one, something that would never have been possible if not for our win. Of course Brenda and I will be looking at holidays too, ticking off some places we’ve never been before.

"We also have kids and grandkids to think about! It’s fantastic that this win will change not only our lives but also all our family as well."

3rd August 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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