NEAR MISS
We almost lost out on £144k People’s Postcode Lottery win – it took 22 years but we never gave up
Meg and Andy have revealed how they plan to spend their winnings
A WINNER of the People's Postcode Lottery - who this week secured £12,000 a month for a year - didn't always have the best luck.
Retired NHS nurse Meg Carr, 69, and her husband Andy were kicked out their home in 1992 and weren't able to buy it back for 22 years.
4
4
4
The family was forced to give up their home when British Coal successfully got a compulsory purchase order.
It was bricked up and left derelict for more than two decades.
Meg, a mum of five from North Yorkshire, said: "It was heartbreaking to leave. We had a dream for this place, and they didn't allow it.
"But we never stopped asking to buy it back. And when they said we could have it, it was amazing.
Read more on lottery wins
"The windows were all bricked up and some kids had set fire to part of it. But, apart from that, it was exactly as we'd left it with the wallpaper still on the walls and the kids' stickers still on the bedroom doors. It was very strange."
People's Postcode Lottery is a subscription lottery that raises money for charities.
Players such as Meg sign up with their postcode and pay £12 a month.
They are then automatically entered into every draw, with prizes announced every day of the month.
Most read in Money
Meg was presented with her prize after her postcode LS25 6HW was revealed to be this month's winner of the lottery's "An Unforgettable Year" prize, where every ticket was worth £12,000 a month for a year.
The win meant Meg will pocket a total of £144,000.
I was so excited by my £400,000 winning lottery scratchcard I left it in the shop
Some of her newly-earned cash will go towards a new shower, as her family have thrown themselves into transforming their home since getting it back.
She also wants to treat her five daughters and seven grandchildren, saying: "There are a lot of things on their lists that we can now tick."
Meg's husband Andy, an HGV driver, wants a new digger to help transform the land around their converted farmhouse - including the rutted track that leads to their home in Sherburn, Elmet.
He said: "I want an excavator to do some work around here now. The track at the moment is dreadful.
"I'd like a Volvo or a CAT with a loading shovel. When we bought this place I had a 20-tonne excavator."
Meg added: "Working the land is very time-consuming if you have to do it by hand."
The grandmother said she also plans to donate money to some of her favourite charities, including Cherished Gowns UK which makes burial gowns for babies.
How does People's Postcode Lottery work?
THERE is potential for players to win some big cash prizes with People's Postcode Lottery - but how does it work?
People's Postcode Lottery is an ongoing monthly subscription lottery where paid tickets are automatically entered into all of its prize draws.
Players can purchase up to three tickets to play in its draws, with each ticket based on their chosen postcode. It costs £12 per month to play.
Prizes are announced every single day - and 33 per cent of the ticket price goes to good causes.
Prizes include £1million shared in one winning postcode every Saturday, £30,000 for every winning ticket in one postcode every Sunday, and a multi-million-pound prize is shared in one postcode area each month.
This month, Meg won "An Unforgettable Year", claiming £12,000 each month for a year. She can also choose from a range of once-in-a-lifetime experiences - in Britain or abroad.
The prize was promoted on behalf of the Postcode Support Trust which supports organisations including Missing People, Depaul UK and Royal Voluntary Service.
4
Topics