A £14m payday... but lotto plumber goes back to work
WITH £14million in the bank after scooping the lottery jackpot, most people would be happy to put their feet up and start planning a life of leisure.
But within hours of officially picking up a cheque for more cash than he could earn in a lifetime, plumber John Doherty was getting his hands dirty, fixing broken toilets and repairing boilers.
The father of two and his wife Alison were only unveiled as Camelot’s latest Scottish millionaires on Tuesday but he was soon back in his overalls and rolling up his sleeves for a hard day’s graft.
Shortly after 9am yesterday, the 52-yearold, from Elderslie, Renfrewshire, hopped into his black Mercedes works van and nipped round to service a boiler that he had recently fitted.
Despite his new-found fortune, Mr Doherty revealed he did not want to let down his loyal customers and would be bored sitting around at home. He said: ‘I really enjoy my work, I’ve been doing it a long time.
‘I want to stay grounded. I’ve got a lot of loyal customers and I don’t want to let them down. I’m doing stuff that was arranged before all this happened. I’m just off up the road to service a boiler I fitted.
‘My customers are older people and they’ve treated me just the same after the win, which is what I want. I’m just back off two holidays so I definitely don’t think I should be sitting on a beach.’
Mr Doherty, who set up his JDPS plumbing and heating engineer company in 1984, refused to rule out carrying on working even after fulfilling his existing contracts.
He said: ‘I could not imagine sitting in the family home all day. I’d be bored not working, so I’m just carrying on.
‘I will treat myself – but once it’s all settled down a bit. I’ll probably slow down a wee bit. I’d like to go four days a week but I still want to keep doing it because it’s mine. If I was working for someone else I’d be away.’
After the couple scooped £14,671,343 in the July 2, draw, they hid their precious winning slip under a hurricane lantern in their bedroom for nearly two weeks because they did not want to miss out on a long-planned family holiday.
They flew off to Orlando, Florida, to celebrate their silver wedding anniversary with children Ryan, 20 and Laura, 11, before getting the ticket validated on their return. Mrs Doherty said Camelot had advised the couple to keep the ticket somewhere safe at home rather than risk taking it abroad.
After flying home and having the ticket validated, the family celebrated with takeaway pizzas and a bottle of Prosecco.
The Formula 1 fans now plan to fulfil their dream to see a race live, while psychology student Ryan has been promised a car and Laura has asked for a pet goldfish.
Their numbers came up after Mrs Doherty let a customer go ahead of her in the queue at their local Nisa convenience store. The man bought two lucky dip tickets and she decided to follow suit.
Mrs Doherty called her husband to give him the news of their win after checking the ticket at lunchtime on the Sunday.
He recalled: ‘When I got home I told her to phone Camelot straight away, but I had to go and stand out in the garden. I couldn’t bear to listen.’
Jonathan Brocklebank – Page 14
‘I don’t want to let customers down’