Factory worker scoops £2m with scratchcard he almost did not buy

A factory worker who scooped £2 million on a scratchcard almost decided not to buy one due to roadworks outside his usual shop.

Ian Black, 61, from Carlisle, had just finished his night shift as a production operator when he called into the Spar Euro Garage in Wigton Road on his way home at about 6am on January 13.

He said: “There were a lot of roadworks outside and I wasn’t sure if I was going to go in. It was a last-minute decision.

“I got a paper and bought a £5 scratchcard.”

Mr Black said he scratched the card on the petrol station forecourt and “screamed” when he saw he had won £2 million.

He then made his way home to his wife Sandra, 55, to tell her the news.

He said: “I was shaking when I was driving. I woke her up and shouted, ‘Get down here – I need you to check this, it’s important.’

“She thought I was saying something had happened to the dog.”

She said: “I just couldn’t believe it. I thought that doesn’t happen to us, there must be something wrong with the card. When I looked at him he was white and shaking and I knew he wasn’t having me on.”

Mr Black then rang his boss at Pirelli Tyres, where he has worked for 42 years, and handed his notice in.

He said: “I told him I wouldn’t be in work that night, or for the rest of the week. Then I said, ‘I’m not coming back.’

“He said, ‘What’s going on?’ and I said, ‘I’ve just won £2 million on a scratchcard on the way home and I’m retiring.’ He was pleased for me.”

Meg has already had one operation on one of her legs which cost £2,500 and will undergo surgery on the other on Friday.

Mr Black said they will then look at spending their winnings on a new car and TV, helping their children get on the property ladder, and then build their dream home to enjoy their retirement in.

He added: “To think I almost didn’t go into the shop on that morning because of the roadworks. I really was so close to just driving past.

“Never did I believe I would ever get to say this. You always dream about it but it just doesn’t happen to people like Sandra and I – well now we are proof it does.”