A COUPLE who received £76,000 on the Individuals’s Postcode Lottery say they really feel like frauds and shouldn’t have received a penny.
Ashley signed as much as play the draw simply two months in the past, and forked out £24 for her tickets earlier than bagging a sizeable £76,923.
2
The wonder remedy scholar from South Shields, Tyne and Put on, stated: “Twenty-four kilos! Two months! This appears like a dream.”
Husband Colin, an HGV driver, added: “We really feel like such frauds. It actually does not really feel actual.”
Ashley and 10 different neighbours shared the £1million prize cash after their postcode NE33 4TH got here up within the weekly Millionaire Road draw on Might 11.
9 neighbours received £76,923 every with two others doubling their prize to £153,846 due to enjoying with two tickets.
Ashley was nearly out the door to go to school when the Postcode Lottery crew turned up on her doorstep.
The mum-of-four stated: “I am shaking. We have got 4 children. Two of them do not even personal a passport and have by no means been on vacation earlier than.”
Glad hubby Colin stated: “I am unable to imagine it. I actually do not imagine it. It simply by no means occurs.
“Ashley misplaced her dad final yr and I misplaced mine just a few years in the past and we have simply had an actual run of unhealthy luck.”
The couple tied the knot in 2021 when Covid restrictions have been eased after Ashley acquired the heartbreaking information that her dad had been given simply 12 months to stay.
Ashley informed how they’d by no means even gone on honeymoon after their low-key, post-pandemic wedding ceremony.
She stated: “We actually went to the registry workplace and went to an area pub after. We have been solely allowed so many individuals.
“We have by no means been on our personal aside from our wedding ceremony evening. We do not actually have anybody for babysitting.
“We have each bought our mums, however to take 4 children is a giant ask.”
The couple have not selected a honeymoon vacation spot but – however after a troublesome few years for the household they intend on letting their son and three daughters select their dream vacation.
Colin stated: “If the children need to go on an aeroplane wherever, I might suppose they’d need to go to the opposite aspect of the world.
“It is good that we’ll be capable of do one thing for them. It is simply past.”
Ashley added: “Our youngest, Zara, would die to go to Disneyland.”
Ashley determined to begin enjoying after her buddy, who lives within the neighbouring city of Boldon Colliery, had a £1,000 money win.
She stated: “My buddy Claire stated that the Postcode Lottery did not even contact her, and he or she simply opened her mail, and it was like £1,000 by the door. And I used to be like, ‘We have to join’.”
Earlier than the Postcode Lottery crew turned up at her home, Ashley had ignored all earlier makes an attempt to get in contact together with her, considering it was a rip-off.
How Individuals’s Postcode Lottery winners nearly misplaced all of it
Ashley and Colin aren’t the one folks to win the Individuals’s Postcode Lottery who thought they didn’t deserve the cash.
Leyla Eaton, 33, stated in April this yr, she nearly did not snag a ticket for the Individuals’s Postcode Lottery, however is so grateful she did.
The mum-of-two landed the six-figure prize after being struck by a “sturdy feeling”.
Leyla claimed it was a “voice” that urged her to purchase a ticket at some point whereas she was sitting on her couch.
Two months later she received the jackpot – alongside her neighbours.
Earlier in April, a fortunate couple informed how they might have missed out on £142,000 in the event that they hadn’t moved home.
Chris and his spouse Anne Nicholls, each 76, of Sesley, West Sussex, admitted they have been fortunate after shifting to the successful avenue final April.
The successful duo would’ve been left with nothing had they stayed at their previous residence.
“It’s been a fortunate transfer,” Chris stated.
In February 2024, a winner who secured £12,000 a month for a yr revealed they practically missed out as a consequence of a run of unhealthy luck.
Retired NHS nurse Meg Carr, 69, and her husband Andy have been kicked out their dwelling in 1992 and weren’t capable of purchase it again for 22 years.
She stated: “We have a tendency to not reply emails and telephone calls as a result of it is often folks asking for cash. It is not often good folks.”
Ashley, who has a Bachelor’s Diploma in Kids and Younger Individuals from Newcastle Faculty, is coaching to be a magnificence therapist to have extra time to stability childcare.
She stated: “I’ve all the time needed to get into educating however now that I’ve bought 4 kids, I wanted one thing to try this works in with the children.
“Being a magnificence therapist means I can work across the children as an alternative of getting to place them into breakfast membership and after-school membership.”
The couple moved into Colin’s childhood home on Hepscott Terrace when his mum determined to downsize following his dad’s demise.
Colin stated: “Our home seems quite a bit prettier than our lives have been.
Learn extra on the Scottish Solar
“Nevertheless it’s water below the bridge now. That is form of beautiful and optimistic for the children.”
He added: “I’ve identified most of the neighbours for the reason that age of eight as I lived right here as a child. I’ve identified lots of them for years. It is good that so many individuals have received.”
2
