Lotto winner James Couper will use his £4.3million fortune to buy £16,000 Ford Focus — so he can keep car insurance costs down
The 46-year-old said he was "flabbergasted" and told how he hid the winning ticket in a toy box for fear of losing it
LOTTO jackpot winner James Couper plans to use his £4.3million fortune to buy a modest £16,000 Ford Focus — so he can keep his car insurance costs down.
The thrifty ferry worker said he has no interest in trading his free bus pass for a flashy motor despite his newfound wealth as the premiums are too steep.
And the down-to-earth dad of two also vowed he won’t swap his Greenock hometown for an exotic locale — but he will take his family on holiday to Disney World in Florida.
Grandad James, 46, was visibly shaken and at times emotional during a press conference yesterday where he collected his cheque for £4,369,887 after matching six numbers in Saturday’s National Lottery draw.
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With daughter Rachel, 20, at his side, he said: “I’m still trying to let it all sink in — it’s scary but good scary.
“I’m just a regular guy, I keep myself to myself. I’m a typical go-to-work family man.
“It sounds corny but I couldn’t afford Disney World before and now I can. But I need to get myself a car, nothing fancy because the insurance is too dear. It’s a Focus I fancy.
“I can drive but I got a free bus pass for my work before so I didn’t buy a car — that’s just the way I am.”
He added: “Nothing like this happens to me. I’m still going to be me, but now you can do stuff.
“I’ll probably buy a motorbike, something cheap, a simple moped. I’ve lived in Greenock all my life. I want to stay there — I might get somewhere in the west end.”
And he promised to stand punters a pint at local bar the Broomhill Tavern — once his shock dies down.
He said: “I’ll buy a jar, got to get the jars in. Lager is my drink but I like a wee cheeky vodka as well.”
James revealed he owes his win to his late mum Annie, who died in 2015, as she introduced him to the lottery.
He said: “I’ve played it for years, I put it on for my mother and we had the same numbers.
“I didn’t want to keep the same numbers so I scrapped that and did the lucky dip.” Choking back tears, he added: “She passed away.”
James, who won £4,369,877 with numbers 5, 21, 23, 34, 43 and 45 on a Lucky Dip bought at his local Tesco, told reporters at luxury Mar Hall hotel in Bishopton, Renfrewshire, of the dramatic moment he realised he’d won.
The port assistant asked a colleague at Caledonian MacBrayne’s Wemyss Bay base to read out the winning numbers on Sunday as he forgot to check them the night before.
He said: “After the fourth number I thought, it’s going to be £50. Then he read out the next two and I thought he knew my lines and it was a joke. I grabbed the paper to check — and when I saw it there in black and white I was just in utter disbelief.”
James ran home and hid the ticket in an old toy box — then became overwhelmed by what had just happened. He went on: “I was so stunned I sat in a dark room for a few hours with a cup of tea to let it sink in.
“I was looking at the ticket, sitting there shaking. I think more tea was on the floor than anywhere else. I kept checking if it was still there, if it was still real.”
James lives in a flat with sister Agnes, 48. He has split from Kathleen, 45, mum to Rachel and son Daniel, 16.
When asked if he was expecting any proposals, he joked: “I’ve been single for two years so you never know.” He revealed Rachel, who lives in Inverness, calls him ‘Del Boy’ after his win in honour of the Only Fools and Horses TV wheeler-dealer whose catchphrase was “This time next year we’ll be millionaires”.
But he added: “Every time someone calls me a millionaire I want to run to the toilet and be sick.”
Rachel, mum to Aaron, four, and Anna, one, said she feared her dad was about to break bad news when he rang to tell her what had happened.
She said: “He asked ‘are you sitting down’. I said, ‘you’re ill’ and he replied, ‘I’ve won the lottery’. I didn’t believe him and said I wanted proof so he WhatsApped me a photo of the ticket and I checked. I can’t believe it.”
Pals and colleagues lined up to hail James’s win. Neighbour Martha Paton, 84, a friend of Annie’s, said: “It couldn’t happen to a nicer boy. I’ve known him for about 40 years. I haven’t had a chance to speak to him but when I’ll tell him, ‘Just enjoy it, darling, cause you deserve it.’”
Kathy Monaghan, landlord of the Station Bar at Wemyss Bay Ferry Terminal, said regulars have talked of little else this week. She said: “I saw it on Facebook and there were dozens of comments — everyone was positive.
“They were saying things like, ‘well done, Jim’ and ‘I think I might be your cousin!’ It was great banter — lovely to see.”
Regular James Brown, 53, added: “It’s nice to think someone close to home can enjoy such good fortune. Everyone around here is genuinely pleased.”
And Scott Goodwill, CalMac Port Manager at Wemyss Bay, said: “Everyone at the firm is delighted and we wish him well for the future.”
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