A couple from Walsall, in the West Midlands, spent a month thinking that emails they were receiving regarding their winning lottery ticket were spam. The couple ignored the emails for four weeks but were taken aback when they finally reached out to Camelot, the lottery operator.
James Briggs, 42, and his wife, Sally, 40, were shocked that they had banked £10,000 every month for one year on the Set For Life draw.
James said, “I buy my Set For Life tickets one month in advance via the National Lottery app. I received an email about the draw on August 3 but ignored it as so much was happening. I was busy with work, including an international trip to a conference. Then we had a holiday to Berlin to celebrate Sally’s birthday. There was home stuff to do, so it was only after seeing the fourth email when we got back from holiday that I read it. I didn’t say anything to Sally but called the National Lottery line the next day to see if all these emails were true.”
He added, “I called the following morning, still wondering whether it was real, but after chatting to various people and seeing everything on the app, it finally dawned on me that it could be true.”
“Having had the confirmation call with The National Lottery, I messaged Sally at work and said I had some news for her when she returned home.”
Sally a fleet scheduler, panicked when she saw the message. She said, “I thought there was a problem. I couldn’t think of anything else until I got home. Then James told me, and I just kept on repeating, ‘you what?’, I was in total disbelief.”
With the first instalment of the couple’s winnings, they have paid off their car loan and now plan to spend some of their £120,000 winnings on a ‘she shed’ for Sally, a holiday, a laptop – and a new front door.
The couple is also planning a trip to Vancouver and wants to invest in property long-term.
