Thanks a million for hold-up decision

Wellington’s traffic chaos may have dampened the start of the long weekend for some, but for one lucky Wellingtonian, the decision to stay put landed him a $1 million Lotto prize.

The tradie, who wants to remain anonymous, planned to travel north to visit family, but decided against it after hearing about the road closures on State Highway 1. The section of SH1 between Plimmerton and Paeka¯ ka¯ riki was closed for 17 hours following a chemical spill when a truck overturned near Pukerua Bay.

‘‘I knocked off work early on Friday, but as soon as I heard that there had been a bit of a major on the road going north, I thought ‘nah, not going to happen – I’ll just stay put this weekend’,’’ he said.

The man stopped at the Countdown supermarket in the Wellington suburb of Newtown to pick up some dinner, and grabbed a ticket at the same time.

‘‘As I was heading out, I decided to check my Lotto ticket from Wednesday. When I handed it over I asked the Lotto lady, ‘I am a millionaire today?’ She said ‘No, not today’. We had a bit of a laugh and I told her I’d be back to claim the big one another day.’’

It wasn’t until Sunday morning that he decided to check his lucky ticket.

‘‘When I saw I’d matched the first three or four numbers in a row I thought ‘oh yeah, this looks all right, I might’ve won $100. Then the next I knew, I had all six in a row.’’

The winner triple-checked the winning numbers before calling his mum. Wanting to celebrate the win with his family, the man decided to pursue his original long weekend plans and head north – this time, by plane. The man is now considering how to spend his winnings.

‘‘I’d really like to go out on my own and start my own business. Apart from that, I might buy a bit of land and, of course, I’ll help out family.’’