TO HELL WITH WORK WE’VE SCOT ™,/D
Couple toast mega jackpot win
A COUPLE who won £57.9million have vowed to travel the world and never work again.
Fred and Lesley Higgins almost missed out on their EuroMillions jackpot when a shopworker threw their ticket in the bin by mistake.
But as soon as it was confirmed, Lesley, 57, quit her account manager job.
The pair, from Laurencekirk, Kincardineshire, also bought an Audi Cabriolet sports car and started dreaming of a holiday home in Barbados.
Recalling the drama in the newsagents, retired Audi worker Fred, 67, said: “I handed the ticket over and the young man put it through the machine, telling me it wasn’t a winner. He ripped it in two and threw it into the bin.”
But after the machine printed out a warning to contact Camelot, the cashier at the Scotmid shop handed it back.
Checks
Fred said: “The ticket had been torn in two but all the numbers were still clear, so I took it back home to make the call.”
Camelot investigators watched CCTV and made security checks before the July 10 win was processed.
Fred said: “I wasn’t ever concerned that we wouldn’t get the money as I knew it was an honest mistake.”
Cashier Sean Grant, 18, only found out on Wednesday how much they had won.
He said: “Mr Higgins came in with two Lottery tickets. The first one wasn’t a winner, so I just binned it.
“The second was a winner but I didn’t expect it to be that much, so I just ripped it and binned it because 99% of people don’t want the ticket returned to them.
“I went back to the Lottery machine and it said that it was in excess of what we could pay, so I had to get the ticket out of the bin and return it to Mr Higgins.
“I told him he’d won a decent amount – but I didn’t expect it to be that much!”
FRED and Lesley Higgins nearly lost their £57.9million fortune after their winning Lottery ticket was torn up. Now that would have been a ripping yarn.