Lottery winner sells car to best friend for £1 after scooping £1m prize

A hospital worker has sold her car to her friend for £1 after finding out she had won £1 million on the lottery.

Deborah Burgess, 56, said it feels “wonderful” to be able to help her best friend Louise Smith after scooping the life-changing prize in the Lotto draw on August 19 last year.

Due to her illness and then a holiday to recuperate, Ms Burgess did not check her emails for a while – but when she finally read the message from the National Lottery, she initially thought it may be a scam, until it was confirmed and her winnings were paid out.

After finding out she had become a millionaire in October last year, Ms Burgess shared the news with her son Nathan, 21, and his girlfriend – and plans to use some of her winnings to help them after Nathan graduates from university.

Ms Burgess has also bought a new car, having sold her old one, a Peugeot 2008, to Ms Smith.

She said: “I’ve bought a new car. It’s not brand new, but a nice Hyundai.

“I wasn’t going to sell my car but my friend wanted to buy it from me. She wanted to pay the proper price but because of the win I sold it to her for just a pound.

“It feels wonderful to be able to do such a thing.”

Of her win, Ms Burgess said: “The last few months have been a blur – illness, then going back to work, holidays, Christmas, New Year – I just couldn’t find the time to celebrate and I was very conscious of monitoring my health.

“But finally getting hold of that big cheque and spraying champagne like a Formula 1 driver has been well worth the wait.”