Trip to buy carrots at village shop lands £120,000 EuroMillions windfall for Northamptonshire couple

Cricket fan Martin Gilbey was hit for six when he scooped nearly £120,000 on the EuroMillions lottery — all because he went to the shop to buy carrots for Sunday dinner.

Martin, 50, and his partner Tracy Priest had to check the numbers over and over again before the Northamptonshire couple finally believed they had struck lucky.

He said: "We were missing some vegetables for our Sunday roast so I popped out to our village shop for some carrots.

“I got to the till but only had my debit card and the minimum purchase with a card was £3. I said to the lady at the counter, ‘shall I buy a Scratchcard or a Lottery ticket’. She said Lottery so I had a Lucky Dip for that night’s EuroMillions draw to take me over £3.

“To be honest, I forgot about the ticket until after Tracy had gone to bed.

"I scanned it using my National Lottery app and couldn’t believe what I saw. I checked it again, deleted the app, downloaded it again and re-scanned the ticket.

"At this point I was starting to get a bit hot under the collar, so I called Tracy to come downstairs to help. She yelled ‘I’m not coming downstairs for a tenner’ but eventually looked at the ticket when she realised something was going on.

“We both checked it again and after many more scans of the ticket we started to cry, cuddle and jump about.”

Martin, who works at a glass and window manufacturing company and played indoor cricket for England, announced the news of his £119,151.70 jackpot to the family on a Zoom call the next day.

He added: “They thought it was a practical joke, but soon were all cheering together.

“I haven’t thought about buying anything, I just want to help my family. We’ve all had a tough year and a little bit of help will make a big difference to them all.

"I also want to pay off my son's car loan and as we are big cricket fans, I have promised him a trip to Australia to watch the Ashes next year. The rest will be for Tracy’s and my future."

Martin bought his winning EuroMillions Lucky Dip ticket at the local Londis store in Cogenhoe. He matched five numbers and one Lucky Star. His winning numbers were 18, 23, 37, 41, 42, and the Lucky Star was 6.

National Lottery players are encouraged to play online or via the National Lottery app during the Covid-19 crisis, and to only buy their tickets in retail in line with government guidance.

Lottery players help to raise an average of £30million every week for good causes across the UK.

Thanks to National Lottery players, up to £800m is being used by charities and organisations affected by the impact of the coronavirus outbreak across the communities, the arts, heritage and sport.