ALL OUTTA LUCK
I won lotto jackpot on a £1 ticket but shopkeeper told me I couldn’t have the prize… it’s been a month & STILL no money
The winner has been investigated by a former police detective
A LOTTO jackpot winner has been left "fuming" after being turned away by the Post Office as she went to collect her cash.
Amelia Barnham, 69, won £800 on a £1 HotPicks ticket but the Londoner has been left with empty pockets a month later.
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She's been left "stressed out", "fuming", and says she feels like a criminal after also being placed under investigation following the win.
Amelia’s problems began two days after the draw when she went to the Post Office to try to collect her winnings.
But, the Post Office said they couldn't pay her the winnings and told her to go back to the Tesco where she bought the ticket.
The Sun told last week that prizes between £500 and £50,000 can no longer be collected from Post Offices and that winners now have to verify their numbers.
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She managed to validate her ticket, but was told she needed to contact Allwyn, which replaced Camelot as Lotto operator on February 1.
She sent photos of the front and back of the ticket and was given a claim number by Allwyn.
But, she was then told an investigator would visit her home - an ex-detective who said she was being probed because she had won so often in the past.
She said: “I did ask why I was being investigated.
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“It made me feel very uneasy and upset.
“He said it was because of the amount of wins that I had won and hopefully I should hear back within a week — but I’m still waiting.
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“If this was to happen to someone really old, they’re not going to like someone coming round their house.
“It might be quite frightening.
“It’s been more than a month now since I won.
“I think it’s disgusting and disgraceful the way I’ve been treated and the way I’m sure many others have been treated.
“I will never ever buy tickets again — not if I’m going to have this sort of trouble getting winnings which are owed to me.
“I would warn other players not to buy tickets as I’d hate to think others will have to go through the same situation as it’s quite disturbing.”
An Allwyn spokesperson previously said: "This is a new claims process following the Post Office's decision to no longer pay National Lottery retail prizes between £500.01 and £50,000.
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"Security checks form a key part of the process of validating a winning ticket to ensure we maintain the integrity of The National Lottery.
"All of our players are very important to us and we aim to provide them with as positive an experience as possible, so we're sorry to hear of Ms Barnham's concerns and we'll certainly follow up with her as we're keen to address those with her."
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New operator Allwyn has changed the procedure for wins between £500 and £50,000 after the Post Office pulled out of a 900-branch deal last month.
Post Office branches were the only shops where cheques for those sums could be given to winning punters — but they have now been blocked.
Instead, the operator, which took over from Camelot at the start of last month, insists winners their verify numbers online or over the phone before sending the ticket by post for inspection.
Allwyn is telling winners it wants tickets sent in for checks by its security operations team.
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