A MAN who accidentally bought a number of lottery tickets nearly missed out on winning half a million pounds after almost cancelling them.
Michael Stokes, 61, and his wife Sandra, from Earl Shilton, Leicestershire, landed a whopping £461,538 in the People’s Postcode Lottery.
The lucky punters shared the £1million jackpot with six neighbours after LE9 7PA was revealed as the winner of the weekly Millionaire Street prize today.
The couple managed to win big with six tickets between them after Michael accidentally bought four tickets by mistake.
Michael thought he had cancelled his direct debit for the lottery, so he accidentally ordered more tickets than he needed.
When he realised his mistake, he even considered phoning the lotto but luckily decided against cancelling the extras before he scooped the golden jackpot.
Sandra, 67, bought the other two tickets which netted her £153,846.
And the sizeable windfall could not have come at a better time for Michael who has been suffering from ill health.
Michael’s winnings with the popular lotto came as he recovered from blocked arteries and two strokes that could have led to his death.
The kitchen and bathroom design firm owner temporarily lost his speech after the two strokes in October last year while on holiday in Rhodes.
He said: “I flew back home when I probably shouldn’t have. When I got home the doctor told me that there was a 90-per-cent chance I would have arrived in the UK dead.”
He has since had two operations and the big win has helped alleviate a lot of the stress and pain of the past year.
Michael told LeicestershireLive: “If I’m honest, I’m lucky to be alive – and this is the icing on the cake. Something like this happening was the furthest thing from my mind after everything.
“This has blown my mind. I’ve never seen figures like that in my bank account before.
“It will be nice to help my kids out…to do things they want to do. I never thought we’d be able to help and now we can.”
Sandra said: “I’m not that emotional, but this is incredible. It’s beyond my wildest dreams.”
She is now considering leaving her job as a midwife after taking semi-retirement a few years ago.
Sandra added: “I love my job, absolutely love it. I retired once and went back again. But this might be the push I need to properly retire.”
Postcode Lottery ambassador Jason Donovan said: “I had a fantastic day surprising this week’s lucky Millionaire Street winners in Earl Shilton.
“I especially loved watching the neighbours celebrate together.”
People’s Postcode Lottery costs £10 a month to play and there are guaranteed winners every day.
Punters play with their chosen postcode and are automatically entered into all draws.
Participants can play in daily, biweekly, and monthly draws, with jackpots of £1,000, £30,000, and £7.9 million.
The daily draw awards the money to one winner in a whopping 20 postcodes.
While the Saturday and Sunday draws provide the award to a player in one postcode.
It comes after an expert revealed the scratchcard which gives you the best chance of winning – but there’s a catch.
Meanwhile, a couple who won £200k on the People’s Postcode Lottery have said they are going to spend it on Prime drinks for their daughter.
And a EuroMillions lottery winner who scooped a whopping £108million jackpot has revealed the first things he bought.
