£14MILLION LOTTO WINNER BACK TO SCHOOL
FOUR MONTHS ON LOTTERY-WINNER GOES BACK TO SCHOOL TO FINISH HIS GAS TRAINING
I put in a lot of work building a business for myself. Why should I walk away from that?
After winning £14million on the lottery, handyman John Doherty was handed the chance to fulfil his wildest dreams.
But just four months later, Euromillions winner John has decided to splash out – on going back to school to get his plumbing badges.
The 52-year-old is committed to continuing his career after renewing his official five-year Gas Safe qualifications last week.
Wearing black overalls, John parked his new 2016-plate black Mercedes van, emblazoned with his JDPS Plumbing Ltd logo, to be put through his paces at a training session.
The Sunday Mail snapped John, of Elderslie, Renfrewshire, arriving at the P&J Training centre in nearby Johnstone at 8.30am on a dark and cold Wednesday morning.
He had spent £780 for the four-and-a-half day course required by law to ply his trade as a gasman.
Asked if he’d not rather be sunning himself on a tropical beach, down-to-earth John insisted: “No. I’m still working away. Absolutely nothing has changed. I still enjoy doing what I’m doing.
“I only still do this because I enjoy it. It keeps your feet on the ground and I’m still the same person I was before I won it.
“Early starts don’t bother me at all. I’ve always done it and I’ve been doing it for 32 years.” He added: “I’m doing my re-assessment. Every five years you’ve got to renew your CCN1 certification so you can keep doing all your gas.”
The dad of two landed a £14,671,343 windfall with wife Alison, 50, when their six numbers came up on July 2.
Thrilled Alison told how she only decided to buy the winning lucky dip ticket after watching a customer she’d let go ahead of her in the queue buy one at their local Nisa convenience store.
The couple’s win came a day before they were due to go on a family break to Florida with children Ryan, 20, and Laura, 12. So they hid the golden ticket in a lantern at home before alerting lotto bosses after returning from the two-week holiday.
Fellow plumbers attending courses at the P&J Training centre were stunned to be rubbing shoulders with a millionaire.
A source said: “Everyone’s been laughing that obviously the f irst thing you’d spend your windfall on if you won the lotto is a plumbing course in Johnstone.
“Fair play to John but I think I’d be enjoying long lies and wondering what beach I was going to jet off to today.
“But he’s been first in and last out every day and has been getting stuck in. He’s got no airs and graces and with him renewing his gas badges, it’s clear he wants to carry on working.”
John told the Sunday Mail he has no intention of quitting his day job.
He said: “I am who I am and nothing changes me. I’ve got all my regular customers I’ve had for 32 years and I didn’t want to just leave them.
“I put in a lot of work building a business for myself so why would I just walk away from that? Lots of people still recognise me when I’m out on jobs – but I can’t complain, all I’ve had is good reactions.”
He added: “I’d love to talk a lot more as I’m proud of my business but it’s just my wife’s worried about doing any more publicity. She worries about the kids and stuff like that.
“We don’t want too much attention because Laura is only 12 and we also don’t want to shove it in people’s faces.”
P& J Training are a small charitable organisation
that for almost 50 years have helped thousands of trainees into gas engineering apprenticeships.
Jackpot winner John was a general handyman but completed a £ 6000 six–month course in 2011 to take on more specialised gas engineering work, including fitting boilers and central heating.
Bosses at the workshop hailed John as a model pupil.
Manager Eleanor Pratt said: “He’s definitely the first lottery winner we’ve had doing a course. “John’s been getting on great. He’s a fantastic student. We’d very much describe him as a model pupil and from what I can gather nobody’s got a bad word to say of him. He’s accommodating and just a lovely gentleman. “He’s just f inished doing his renewals again so that’s him sorted for another five years.” She added: “John first came to us five years ago to do a six-month self-funded BPEC- credited Gas Foundation course. “I think until then he was a general handyman. “For someone to take six months out of their working life to commit to a new career without an income coming in speaks volumes for John’s commitment to this. “The certification lasts five years and every single Gas Safe engineer out there has to renew their ticket every five years. “So not only have we trained John to become a domestic gas engineer, he is now renenewing his ticket again five years down the line. “We’re pleased to have him back with us. “I’d like to think if I won the lottery and I was in John’s shoes, I’d still be doing something workwise.”