Couple’s joy after scooping £5m Lotto jackpot

A couple have spoken of their delight after scooping more than £5 million on the lottery.

Paul and Louise Drake, both 47 and from West Lothian took home the £5,162,779 Lotto jackpot in the July 28 draw after Mr Drake checked his numbers the next morning before his shift.

Mr Drake, a production operator with Lidl until last week, was getting ready to drive two colleagues to work when he was struck by a “niggling feeling” to check his ticket, before being overcome by shock when he realised he had a winner.

I’ll still chase a bargain and I definitely won’t be paying £6.50 for a bacon roll at the golf club

Speaking on Friday, he told the PA news agency: “I couldn’t believe it, I ran back in the house in floods of tears, it was very emotional, Louise thought something was wrong.

“She thought it was £5,100 but I said, ‘no you need to wake up a wee bit and turn the lights on and see this’.”

The couple, from Seafield near Bathgate, have two sons aged 11 and 15.

Mrs Drake, a district nurse, said: “I got such a fright thinking something was wrong, but he was shouting something about winning the lottery.

“At first I thought it was £5,000 and tried to go back to sleep. But obviously that didn’t happen.

“I went to work on the Thursday and the Friday and just didn’t say anything to anybody.”

Mr Drake said he learned of his win at around 4.30am – but because he was the designated driver that day he still had to take his colleagues to work.

When he got to the office he wasted no time telling bosses he would not be clocking in that day.

He said: “The guys who I drove to work knew something was up and that I was acting strangely, so it wasn’t long before people guessed.

“Our friends, family and colleagues are over the moon for us, they’re really chuffed, which is great.

“There’s not a bad word to say, everybody’s just happy and delighted it’s somebody that’s won it they know.”

The golf enthusiast – who plays at a course in Uphall, where the clubhouse burned down in the winter – insists the fortune will not change “who we are”, but will “change our lives dramatically from a financial perspective”.

He added: “I’ll still chase a bargain and I definitely won’t be paying £6.50 for a bacon roll at the golf club.”

The car lover said he is eyeing up a Porsche and a new Range Rover as well as clearing the mortgage, while Mrs Drake plans to take her sons to New York and a family trip to Florida.

Mr Drake said he normally chooses his numbers but on this occasion he bought three last-minute lucky dips from a shop in Seafield, with one hitting the jackpot.

He told PA: “Just on the Wednesday I’ve got my wee way of doing it, I pick my numbers, I’ve been doing it for years and get a wee win… but it’s ironic – three lucky dips and scan your ticket and get what you get.

“Next week it’ll all be forgotten about and we’ll just get on with life.”