London: A couple from a small town in Scotland was today declared winners of 33 million pounds in the UK’s biggest National Lottery win ever.David and Carol Martin, both aged 54, are from Hawick in the Scottish Borders region in Edinburgh. “Obviously the initial shock was surreal. If we had won 50,000 pounds we would have probably been dancing round the living room. But when we were sitting looking at each other and we had won 33 million pounds we didn’t speak to each other for about five minutes. We were in total shock,” David told reporters.
The couple had been relaxing at home over the weekend until a visit from a friend who urged them to check their ticket on the mantelpiece. They were “stunned” once they realised all the numbers matched. “All we could do was drink lots of hot tea and try and
make sense of it all. The information just wasn’t going in,” said David.
The couple, who have been married for 28 years, are planning to retire as soon as possible and said they would love a new home in the country, local to where they live now, and a holiday home in the sun. They also intend to help their family and closest
friends.
“We don’t have all the answers yet but we’d like to help our closest friends and family and there are charities which are important to us too. “Parts of our community have also been hit by flooding and we know lots of people who have struggled in recent times
so there’s a lot for us to work out but it’s a nice problem to have,” David added.
“A couple from the Scottish Borders are celebrating today after winning one half of last weekend’s incredible 66 million pounds Lotto jackpot. The husband-and-wife team are
celebrating with a life-changing cheque for 33,035,323 pounds,” a statement by the National Lottery had earlier said.
Lotto winners have the option of remaining anonymous. Two tickets won 33,035,323 pounds each but only one winner has come forward since Saturday’s prize draw. The second winners are yet to claim their half of the record 66 million pounds win.
