A National Lottery winner has bagged £1million after double checking his ticket that had been left in the car for four months.
Darren Burfitt, 44, only checked his lucky ticket after his four-year-old son asked for a packet of crisps from the car one Sunday morning.
The greenkeeper at Langland Bay Golf Club had kept several lottery tickets in the central console of his car but hadn’t got round to checking them.
He decided to scan the tickets after spotting an appeal to find a missing lottery winner.
Darren and Gemma Burfitt celebrated their £1m win
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The 44-year-old said: “I had a few tickets in the central console of my car – it is where I always keep them for safety, and I just hadn’t got round to checking them.”
The father-of-two had left the ticket in his grey Citroen DS4, which he’d left unlocked every day for the past four months.
“My car is honestly a shed on wheels, held together with mud. It has almost no value, so I never bother to lock it,” he explained.
“I dread to think what could have happened to that winning ticket.”
The winning ticket was purchased from a Morrisons Daily in Penllergaer before a family caravan holiday.
Burfitt described how one ticket was particularly creased and wouldn’t scan on the National Lottery app.
“It was so crumpled it wouldn’t scan, so I had to bring up the draw details and read the results,” he said.
“I couldn’t quite believe it when I did… In fact, I still cannot believe it now.”
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The couple, who also have a six-year-old daughter, are now planning their future with their unexpected windfall
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When he called his wife Gemma, a teaching assistant who was away overnight, his voice was shaking so much she feared something had happened to their children.
“I said no – we have won £1m pounds. But she just wouldn’t believe me,” Burfitt recalled.
The couple, who also have a six-year-old daughter, are now planning their future with their unexpected windfall.
They have set their sights on buying their first home together, which will provide security for their family.
They have set their sights on buying their first home together
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Burfitt also plans to replace his unreliable car with a new pick-up truck.
“I keep dreaming of a trip to see the Ashes in Australia – but a pick-up truck is first on the list as my car is literally falling apart,” he said.
“The kids will love the pick-up and it will enable us to go on even more adventures as a family.”
His wife expressed disbelief at their newfound wealth.
She said: “I just could never imagine having this much money – it is an unreal feeling.
“I literally have to keep pinching myself – thinking it is a dream which I will wake up from.”
