House and holiday on £7.5m lottery winners’ shopping list

A mother and son who scooped £7.5 million on the National Lottery only won because she bought an extra lucky dip ticket.

John Hay, 38, from Billingham and his 70-year-old mother Doreen, from Thornaby, both Teesside, only found they had won on Sunday morning when she checked the newspapers.

Mr Hay, a cable engineer, jumped in his car and sped over to see his mother after she phoned him to say: “John, you’ll have to come over, I think we’ve won the lottery.”

He said: “I checked the numbers three times. I couldn’t believe it so I sat down and then checked again. It was then I realised we’d won £7.5m.”

After phoning the National Lottery, Mr Hay called his partner Susan Robinson, 39, a customer services representative.

The couple plan to buy a dream home and are now planning a trip to Disneyland, Florida.