AN ECSTATIC engineer picked up a 500,000 pounds the price quadrupled his huge win after a memorable mistake.
Mark made a lucky coincidence that he ended up with four tickets in his postcode.
Now the keen vinyl collector plans to add more than 4,000 records to his stash, and is even tackling a house extension and loft conversion to make room for them all.
Mark shouted, “This has changed our lives forever – I’m half a millionaire!
“I made a mistake when we were doing Inkaso and I pressed three instead of one and I never bothered to change it because it goes to charity so it’s good.
” Then I added another [ticket] via PayPal because I thought direct debit wasn’t working. I still think it’s not real, I’ll wake up in a minute.’
Mark landed unexpectedly with four neighbors inside Borehamwood after WD6 2SL our weekly won £1m Millionaire Street price today. Every ticket was worth it 125,000 pounds.
Mark first subscribed eight years ago and played with one ticket before canceling for a short time.
He then rejoined in December 2022 with the intention of only getting one ticket, but despite realizing his mistake, he continued to pay for four tickets every month.
And now that decision has paid off four times over as he and his wife Billie celebrate turning four 125,000 pounds checks.
Vinyl lover Mark is now ready to completely transform his house to create more space for his incredible record collection.
mark said “You have no idea how much space 4,000 records take up. We can get an extension and attic conversion now.”
Mark started his LP collection over 50 years ago and has no plans to stop now. He added, “From rock, pop, classical, reggae, you name it, I’ve got it, but I’ve always got my eye on more.
“I don’t know what the world would be like without music. I love to sit with a cup and relax to music.”
Mark’s extensive collection includes all The Beatles box sets and one of his prized possessions is an original 1971 Pink Floyd pressing of Dark Side of the Moon.
Plans to extend the family home will also include a new bathroom. Mark admitted that his wife has been asking him for a downstairs bathroom since they moved into the property more than three years ago.
Marek jokingly said: “You can have your toilet downstairs now dear. That’s all she cares about.”
Supermarket worker Billie said she will now be able to reduce her working hours but has no plans to quit.
mark said “He still wants to work at Tesco.
She smiled and replied: “Yeah, but I won’t have to do so much overtime.
Despite winning, Mark reported for his shift at work moments after receiving the stunning news.
Mark, who works at dairy company Arla Foods, said: “It’s a normal day and I finish at 6pm, but I have to say my mind probably won’t be on work.”
The couple are now considering several other holiday options but have been forced to cancel recent trips.
Billie, who has autism, can often find social interaction a challenge, meaning the couple had to cancel a holiday to Egypt and also missed Taylor Swift’s sold-out show at Wembley.
Mark added, “It was really sad because she always wanted to see Taylor Swift and we still have unused tickets there. But who knows, with that money it might happen one day.”
The couple, who married two-and-a-half years ago, have already booked a stay in the Peak District but could look to Australia or America in the next few years.
Adoring Mark said: “I’ve never been lucky except for finding Billie. She’s changed my life and whatever we do with the money, we’ll use it.”
The couple are looking forward to celebrating with family, enjoying a bottle of non-alcoholic prosecco and spinning a record in the background.
Another four winners at Hackney Close packed up 125,000 pounds each. All were either unavailable or chose to remain anonymous.
Local charity benefit
Former carer Billie was delighted to hear that local charities were also benefiting from their win.
She said, “We’ve always given to charity and the postcode lottery also helps a lot of animal charities and we love animals.”
Cecil’s Horse Sanctuary was awarded 20,000 pounds by Postcode Community Trust.
Founded by Julie Blake in 2016, the charity gives suffering horses and ponies their forever home when they have nowhere else to go.
The charity is run entirely by volunteers and cares for 80 animals, including horses, Welsh ponies, Shetland ponies, a mule and a donkey. Many animals come from poor living conditions, so the main aim of the charity is to ensure that animals are happy and live freely.
“Many of our animals come to us with health problems and often people just don’t need them anymore and think the easiest thing to do is put them down. People don’t realize that these animals can live another ten years with the right care.” We give the animals the good life they deserve and to be honest, they take care of us too.” said Julie.
The charity also serves people in the community and organizes regular sessions for local children and people with learning difficulties to meet animals, which can act as therapy and help children’s development.
“The tabernacle is named after my father, Cecil, who loved ponies and sadly passed away 14 years ago. After his death, my miniature pony gave birth to a boy – so we named him Cecil after Dad. At just four weeks old, the pony was stolen from us – and he has been missing since then. Julie added.
Thanks to People’s Postcode Lottery players, Cecil’s Horse Sanctuary will be able to build a much-needed new fence in one of the fields to help keep the animals safe.
“It’s such a relief to receive such a generous amount of funding – we couldn’t be more grateful,” said Julie.
All funding was awarded to the Postcode Community Trust.
Supporting good causes
Today’s prize is part of a prize draw promoted on behalf of the Postcode Education Trust. Supported by our players, this trust provides grant funding to organizations that provide education, particularly in emergency situations. Beneficiary charities include Save the Children, Theirworld and UNICEF UK.
For the People’s Postcode Lottery, 33% of the ticket price goes to charity. Our amazing players have grown up over £1.3 billion for thousands of good things.
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