A lottery player has been driving around with the EuroMillions winning ticket in his car for over four months, until it was so crumpled it was unscannable.
Darren Burfitt finally claimed his jackpot after checking multiple tickets that had been left in his unlocked vehicle the entire time.
He only retrieved them when his four-year-old son wanted some chips, which he also had in the car.
“I didn’t want to open a new bag,” said the 44-year-old from Swansea, Wales. “He often ends up with half-open bags and I knew there was a packet which he hadn’t finished in the car so I told him I would pop out and get that one for him.”
“I decided to grab my National Lottery tickets at the same time, and started to scan each one on the lottery app on my phone.”
For months, Darren’s family and friends had repeatedly teased him to check his tickets after an appeal went out across the city to find a missing millionaire from the EuroMillions draw last year.
The greens-keeper at Langland Bay Golf Club told reporters he had a few tickets in the central console of his grey Citroen. “I just hadn’t got round to checking them.”
He perked up when one of the tickets pinged as he scanned it and discovered he had won almost five dollars.
“One of the tickets was particularly creased so I thought I would leave that one until the end. It was so crumpled it wouldn’t scan, so I had to bring up the draw details and read the results.”
The father of two was stunned to discover he had become an instant millionaire.
“I couldn’t quite believe it…. In fact, I still cannot believe it now. I just kept looking at the date and then the matching Millionaire Maker code – and then the date and the code again. I just could not comprehend what I was seeing.”
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As the news sunk in, it dawned on Darren that because he leaves his car unlocked anyone could have run off with his jackpot winner.
“My car is honestly a shed on wheels, held together with mud. It has almost no value, so I never bother to lock it! I dread to think what could have happened to that winning ticket.”
Darren’s wife, Gemma, a teaching assistant, was away overnight when he discovered his win.
“When I called Gemma my voice was shaking so much, she was convinced something had happened to one of the children.
The couple, who also have a six-year-old daughter, are now excitedly planning their future and have their sights set on buying their first home. Darren also wants a new pick-up truck to replace his car which is proving unreliable for the family.
“The kids will love the pick-up and it will enable us to go on even more adventures as a family.”
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In fact, he bought the ticket on their drive to a family vacation.
“I literally have to keep pinching myself, says Gemma. “thinking it is a dream which I will wake up from.
“It changes everything and we can finally buy a home of our own. It is going to give us so much security for our future and our children’s future.
The couple talked to reporters ahead of a record-breaking EuroMillions jackpot that saw history made on Friday, as a man from Austria, Kronen Zeitung, claimed the biggest-ever total to date—an astounding £209 million ($250M)—after buying a single $10 ticket.
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