UPDATE: |EuroMillions winner nearly missed out on £1m after forgetting about ticket for four months News

He left the winning ticket in his car for four months

A dad nearly missed out on £1million after leaving a winning lottery ticket in his car for four months.

Darren Burfitt, 44, from Swansea, left his winning ticket in his unlocked grey Citroen DS4 has now claimed his National Lottery winnings after nearly missing out.

He grabbed the winning ticket on a whim when getting his four-year-old son a packet of crisps on a Sunday morning. He is now planning to use the winnings to buy a first family home.

The 44-year-old millionaire said he had been urged by family and friends to check his tickets after an appeal went out across the town to find a missing millionaire from the EuroMillions draw on October 18, 2024.

Darren, a green-keeper at Langland Bay Golf Club, 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.

“When my son asked for a packet of crisps I didn’t want to open a new bag – we often end up with half open bags of crisps and I knew there was a packet which he hadn’t finished in the car so I said I would pop out and get this one for him.

“I decided to grab my National Lottery tickets at the same time, went back into the house and started to scan each one on The National Lottery app on my phone.”

Darren admitted he was made up when one of the tickets pinged as he scanned it and discovered he had won £3.60.

He added: “One of the tickets was particularly creased so I thought I would leave that one until the end. It was so crumpled it wouldn’t scan, so I had to bring up the draw details and read the results.

“I couldn’t quite believe it when I did …. In fact, I still cannot believe it now. I just kept looking at the date and then the matching EuroMillions Millionaire Maker code – and then the date and the code again – I just could not comprehend what I was seeing.”

As the reality of the news sunk in, it dawned on Darren that he’d left his car unlocked every day for the last four months and anyone could have swiped his winning ticket.

He added: “My car is honestly a shed on wheels, held together with mud. It has almost no value, so I never bother to lock it! I dread to think what could have happened to that winning ticket.”

Darren’s wife Gemma, a teaching assistant, was away overnight when he discovered his win.

He explained: “When I called Gemma my voice was shaking so much, she was convinced something had happened to one of the children.

“I said no – we have won one million pounds. But she just wouldn’t believe me.”

The couple, who also have a six-year-old daughter, are now excitedly planning their future and have their sights set on buying their first home together. Darren also wants a new pick-up truck to replace his car which is proving unreliable for the family.

He said: “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. The kids will love the pick-up and it will enable us to go on even more adventures as a family.”

Gemma, 34, added, “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.

“We love our lives and enjoy great caravan holidays but this just takes things to another level and allows us to do even more as a family.

“It changes everything and we can finally buy a home of our own. It is going to give us so much security for our future and our children’s future.

Darren, originally from Burnley, bought his winning EuroMillions ticket from Morrisons Daily in Penllergaer for the draw on 18th October 2024 on their way to a family holiday.