A man from Kingswood, near Bristol, has won £125,000 after forgetting to cancel his lottery direct debit, despite his fiancée's request to save money for their wedding. James Adams, 31, a motion graphic designer, had been asked by his bride-to-be, Rouhanna Coulthard, to stop his Postcode Lottery entry three months ago, but the money-saving request slipped his mind.
Adams said: 'I was going to stop doing it three months ago then forgot. Thank God for just being lazy and really silly. Incompetence pays off!' Rouhanna, who started screaming when the cheque was revealed, added: 'James never told me that he had signed up and I asked him to cancel the direct debit when I saw it going out because we are saving for the wedding. Thank goodness he didn’t.'
The couple shared a £1m pot of cash with seven other neighbours in their postcode area, which won the lottery's weekly millionaire street prize. Four other winning locations are set to be announced, with local charities in each area receiving a combined total of £1m.
Among the other winners was neighbour Gemma Marson-May, another bride-to-be, who had a premonition she would win. She said: 'I just had a strong feeling that I would win, so I signed up in August. I felt like the postcode would win in September. I’m only a week out, really, so this has worked pretty well.'
Another winner, Steve Hooper, a motor insurance claims handler, said the win brought a smile back to his face after several years of health battles. Hooper, who underwent a triple bypass nine years ago and is being monitored for bladder cancer, said: 'I’ve been living with cancer for the past four years. It could kill me, but I’m still smiling. This has brought a really big smile to my face.'
