When Fred Higgins handed his Euromillions ticket to a young clerk at a local store, he ripped it and threw it in the bin, thinking there’s no way it’s a winner. He was wrong! The terminal made a chitty sound and after Mr. Higgins contacted lottery officials, it turned out that ripped piece of paper was actually worth £58.000.000.
Fred and his wife Lesley matched all the winning numbers in the Euromillions draw on July 10th. The husband checked them about a week later, while buying tickets for the next draw. Young man who put the ticket through the terminal discarded little piece of paper worth £58.000.000, thinking it was not a winner. Everything changed when the machine started producing weird sounds, and the clerk immediately took the ticket out of the bin and advised Mr. Higgins to contact Camelot.
“The ticket had been torn in two but all the numbers were still clear so I took it back home to make the call. I wasn’t ever concerned that we wouldn’t get the money as I knew it was an honest mistake – it just had to be looked at to make sure everything was correct,” said the fortunate Aberdeenshire resident.
Retired couple already made their first purchase – a brand new Audi Cabriolet! They’re thinking about parking another new car inside their garage, possibly a BMW or a Jaguar. They also want to take up some new hobbies, help their family, support local charities and travel the world.
“We had a really comfortable life before the win but we did have dreams of living abroad. Since we won, I’ve got my eye on somewhere in France and Lesley seems to be looking at property in Barbados. I think it might be fun to explore a few places before we commit to buying anything!” said Mr. Higgins.
