Staff at a Montrose garage have spoken about the moment they found out they had scooped £1 million in the EuroMillions – saying they initially thought it was a joke.
The 11-strong syndicate from GPG Montrose Ltd scooped theprize in February after playing the EuroMillions Millionaire Maker online.
Going public for the first time, Lesley Forsyth – whose husband Arthur is the syndicate leader – said she thought they were being scammed when she was first told how much they had won.
She said: “For some reason we both had woken around 4am and Arthur went on his phone and saw on his email there was news about our National Lottery ticket.
“He clicked through to the National Lottery website to discover we had won £2.80.
“There was then another message saying congratulations and when he clicked through to the lottery page on that, he just started shouting, ‘Oh my goodness, our syndicate has won £1 million’.
“My first words to that were, ‘It’s bound to be a scam’.”
‘You never think it will happen to you’
Lesley, who supports the day to day running of the garage, said she is still trying to wrap her head around the win – which was first revealed in The Courier.
But despite the shock, the 56-year-old is already making plans on how to spend her winnings.
She said: “I think the news is still sinking in, you hear people winning all the time but you never think it will happen to you – a garage business in Montrose.
“We have been doing the syndicate for 23 years.
“Arthur and I have upgraded our motorhome, there are garden makeovers being done, holidays – just everything.”
Office manager Cheryl Milne, who has worked for the garage for 12 years, was one of the first people to be told of the win by Lesley and Arthur.
She said: “In the morning of the day we won, Arthur phoned me asking to go down to their house.
“I thought I was picking him up for work but they invited me in, sat me down and said they had good news – it was a very good day.”
She added: “I’m planning on doing up my bathroom and spare room.
“Then I’m thinking of going on a big holiday, I don’t know where though.
“I feel you always have ideas of what to do if you won the lottery but when it actually happens, you don’t where to start.”
Conversation