Army veteran lands a last-gasp lottery win
LUCKY PUNTER JUST HOURS AWAY FROM MOVING HOUSE
AN Army veteran was relieved not to have cancelled his Postcode Lottery subscription, winning a cool £166,666 12 hours before moving home.
Alan Jones, 56, had intentions of cancelling the ticket for the house he had sold, and to sign up once again in his new property.
But on the last day in his old home, Alan and his neighbours in Westerhope won the cash prize pot. The ecstatic former Coldstream Guardsman was met with chants of ‘Well done, Alan’ as neighbours congratulated him.
He said: “I was going to cancel my ticket and renew it wherever I end up. Thank goodness I didn’t. I’ve got to be out by 2pm tomorrow and I’m basically packing up the house now because I need a new start. This has helped give me that.”
And Alan wasn’t the only winner on NE5 4BA, with five neighbours also receiving their share of the £1m jackpot for the Millionaire Street prize on Saturday, February 10. Each ticket was worth a whopping £166,666.
The dad-of-one, who had just finished a night shift for Newcastle College as a security guard, was planning to move into a nephew’s home while he took time to house hunt. However, he has always dreamed of a log cabin in rural Northumberland, as well as a holiday in Turkey and Greece.
Lifting boxes and cleaning windows with his son Lewis, 23, he said: “I put my house on the market last September before it sold in eight or nine weeks. I couldn’t believe it was
so quick. I’m moving into my nephew’s and have a lot of viewings to go to. I can’t take this in. I thought after getting the phone call that it might be £2,000 or £10,000 at the most.
“I’ve always wanted to go out and get a log cabin in Northumberland. Who knows! I also told my son I’ll sort him out. A holiday in Turkey or the Greek island of Skiathos would be good, too.”
He added: “I’ll be packing up for the rest of the day, so I’ll go out tomorrow and have a nice meal and drink to celebrate.”
Fellow winner Claire Turnbull, who lives next door to Alan, said that her mum persuaded her to sign up a year ago – and she was presented with her
cheque on mum Geraldine’s 57th birthday.
The 35-year-old mum-of-three, said: “I signed up a year ago. My mum made me because she plays too – and it’s her birthday today.”
Down the road, trucker Anthony Hedley had pulled his HGV lorry into a layby to get a video call from wife Christine to say they’d won £166,666 each.
Teaching assistant Christine, 65, screamed ‘oh my God, I’m so happy’ when her prize was revealed – before phoning her 68-year-old husband in his truck cab to break the news.
Anthony joked on the call: “She’s in charge of the money. I just make it,” while Christine, added: “This is unbe
lievable. I thought it might be £20,000 and that would have been lovely. This is wonderful, but it doesn’t feel real just yet.“
Elsewhere, Tom and Anne Bell were in holiday mode after bagging their prize money, planning a grand return to Mexico. Anne, 64, who has MS, had to sit down after seeing her winning amount, and said: “We can go back to Mexico. We’ve only been once, but we loved it.
“We’re both not in good health, but we’re going to enjoy this. We’re going to have a few holidays. I can spend, I’m a very good spender.”
Retired taxi driver Tom, 68, laughed: “I’ll not see much of it, that’s the problem.”