Polly won a scratch card! £2m used as bird bill IOU

Creature comforts: Winner Lesley Herbert and her rescue parrot Bibi

IT MUST have been a head-scratcher for the vet – as a lottery winner used her £2million ticket as an IOU for her pet parrot’s treatment.

Lesley Herbert bought a Monopoly Riches scratch card when she found herself ‘feeling quite lucky’ while buying food at the Co-op, and feared she was seeing things when she first uncovered the winning symbol.

But as she was waiting to have the National Lottery win confirmed, her rescue African grey parrot Bibi dislocated its foot – and the mum-of-four had the perfect solution to reassure the vets she would be able to pay.

‘It was a crazy moment when I found out I had won and, just as I was waiting to get the ticket validated, everything got a little more chaotic,’ said Ms Herbert, of Basingstoke, Hampshire.

‘The vet team were brilliant but were very shocked when I showed them a picture of the scratch card as an IOU. They laughed that they’d never before been shown a £2million winning scratch card as a guarantee the bill would be paid.’

And now Bibi will be able to recover in luxury, as animal lover Ms Herbert, 42, is searching for her first own home for her family – including their two parrots, two rescue dogs and some chickens she had been waiting to buy.

‘A farm with a bit of land would be amazing, so I can rescue more animals in need,’ she said. ‘In the longer term I would love to look at starting my own animal shelter charity. This win will also mean so much to my four children. I’ll be able to set them up for life.’

Ms Herbert also aims to go on her dream holiday – a trip to Pig Beach in the Bahamas to swim with pigs.