Featured Image Credit: National Lottery
Topics: Money, National Lottery, UK News
Emily Brown
Whenever I'm near a machine that makes a weird noise I immediately assume I've somehow broken it, but for John Stembridge from Wiltshire, that sound meant big money.
John heard the National Lottery machine make the 'strange' sound when he went in to the shop to check his Set For Life ticket, which offers players the chance to win £10,000 per month for the next 30 years if they match the main five numbers and the Life Ball.
The 51-year-old, who has spent more than 20 years working around the clock as a plasterer, was sitting in his van having a coffee when he spotted the Set For Life ticket he'd previously bought sticking out from behind the visor.
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He'd just finished a day of plastering, and decided to pop in to the nearby shop to check whether he'd had any luck with his numbers.
“When the store assistant put it into the machine to check, the machine made a really strange noise - something I had never heard before," John recalled.
Having realised something was different about this particular ticket, John continued: “The assistant then said to me I would need to call the number on the ticket as it was a winning ticket but she couldn’t pay me. I just thought I had maybe won £100.
"I went back to my van and called Camelot. My heart was racing. It was quite surreal - a National Lottery advert came on the radio at that very moment, playing the telephone call of a winner... and literally as this came on the radio my call was answered."
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While sat in his van, John learned that he'd managed to secure the 'top prize' of £10,000 per month for 30 years.
"I literally burst into tears and I cried my eyes out. I could not believe it!" John said.
"To be in the position where I get £10K every month, tax free, is just phenomenal - this National Lottery win has changed everything for me and those closest to me and I still just cannot believe it!”
Following his win, John is planning to give up his day job in favour of pursuing his two main passions: photography and fishing.
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“It’s time to give up the trowels!" John continued. "There will be no more days of coming home covered in plaster dust and worrying about money and my family.
"All of our lives are now changed forever. It makes me so happy that I can now help and support my family and those closest to me and I literally have no more worries in that respect."
John has big plans to open a luxury fishery and build his dream home on a lake, as well as splashing out on a luxury camper van so he can go on a fishing adventure across Europe.