Pensioner almost missed out on £76k lottery win as he was ‘too careful’ and thought emails were a ‘hoax’

A pensioner went a week without realising he had won £76,000 on the People’s Postcode Lottery, as he initially believed the congraulatory emails were a “hoax”.

Colin, 59, said his cautious nature could have cost him the eye-watering amount, as he ignored messages that had been piling up in his inbox for days.

However, upon returning home from swimming one day, he spotted a camera crew and knew it was the real deal.

He recalled: “I had two emails from Postcode Lottery and thought, ‘No, this is a scam,’ and deleted them.

“I drove back home, as I’d been swimming this morning, and then I saw the Postcode Lottery camera crew.

“It feels fantastic. I’ve just retired so it’s a bonus.”

The 59-year-old and his partner Gwen are among 10 neighbours who scooped part of the £1million winnings through the People’s Postcode Lottery.

Nine neighbours on the Tyne and Wear street won £76,923 each, with two others doubling their prize to £153,846 due to playing with two tickets.

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Colin worked as a buyer at Siemens, a bakery chain, for almost four decades before retiring this year. He said: “It’s come at a great time – happy days.”

The grandad-of-three continued: “We’ve got a big holiday to pay for, anyway. For my 60th we’re going to San Francisco, then Napa Valley, Los Angeles, a cruise for a week, San Diego, Mexico.”

People’s Postcode Lottery also gave local charity Bright Futures £80,000. A spokesperson said: “We started with two laptops in a cafe so to receive funding like this is mind-blowing,” said Co-Founder and Managing Director Nicola Whalen.

“We’ve supported over 50,000 young women and are now supporting 3,500 young women per year on average. This funding will have a profound impact on the amount of support we can give.”

However, a recent lottery player was not as lucky as Colin and his neighbours, at first believing he had won the jackpot, before being slapped with a “consolation prize“.

Chris Cork, from Manchester, had played the lottery for eight years – so when his postman dropped by to deliver a People’s Postcode Lottery-branded parcel, he thought his life was about to change.

Cork, who runs a TikTok account boasting over 160,000 followers and five million “likes”, said opening the parcel had him dreaming about the lifestyle a lottery win would give him but was quickly disappointed.

“You will never guess what I have won,” Cork ranted online.

“Congratulations. You’ve won a f*****g handmade soaps. I mean, they don’t even smell nice.”