A RETIRED taxi driver, from Devon, who matched five numbers plus the Bonus Ball in the Lotto draw on Saturday, March 4, to scoop a windfall of £1,000,000 now plans to hit the open road once more.
The lucky man, Steve Glover (73), from Exeter is wasting no time with those plans and will be swapping Devon for the Highlands of Scotland - a place he fell in love with when he was based there with the RAF. But his move will be something of a movable feast.
Steve said: 'I don’t have a definite spot in Scotland that I want to call home just yet so I’m buying a motorhome which will be my temporary home.
'I will spend some time travelling around and getting a feel for the place again. I’m after a nice little croft with a bit of land and when I see the right place, I will know it’s the one.'
Alongside his motorhome plans, Steve has a few other thoughts. A new car to replace his ‘on its last legs’ Land Rover has already been ticked off, mainly so he has something to get him around the motorhome showrooms. And sticking to his love of Scotland, Steve will invest in two barrels of prime Scotch whisky, although he’s undecided if it’s an investment or to sip.
Mulling over his exciting new life he said, 'Life is short, you have to enjoy every moment and every spare penny, and I’m sure as heck going to enjoy this! '
The wheels were put in motion for Steve’s exciting new life on the road in rather mundane fashion. He’d popped out to pick up tickets for the Lotto draw the previous night, left them on the coffee table and only thought to check the tickets later on Saturday as he had watched the darts on TV.
He said: 'I checked the Lotto results on my tablet and recognised the numbers instantly as I’ve always played the same numbers! I didn’t dare to believe what I was seeing so first I rang my mate and asked him to read out the numbers to me, and then I called my ex-wife who did the same and then said, ‘according to this Steve, you’ve won £1M!'
Impatiently waiting to make his claim, Steve was up bright and early on Sunday morning calling the National Lottery line as it opened on the dot of 9am. In no time at all his win was confirmed but Steve didn’t dare believe it was real until that moment the winnings appeared in his bank account.
He said: 'I’ve had my share of bad luck over the years, with two heart attacks and an injury which stopped me working and led to the demise of my business, so when the win was confirmed, I made a cup of tea – my answer to everything! – and told myself not to start the celebrations just yet.
'Now the money is there, looks like the celebrations can start, just as soon as my mate is back from Fuerteventura and my ex-wife is back from her holidays in the Caribbean. It did occur to me that I could fly out and surprise either one of them but I think I’ll sit tight, with another cup of tea, and wait for their return.'
Steve bought his winning Lotto ticket at McColls on Pinhoe Road (Whipton, Exeter). A regular at the shop, after finding out about his life-changing win he popped in to give the lady who served him, Delia, a bunch of flowers as a little thank you.
He said: 'I always get my National Lottery tickets at the same shop so I had to share my good news with the staff there as well as give a little something to the person who sold me my winning Lotto ticket. I guess it’s just the way I’ve been brought up, they were all so happy for me, it was a really nice moment.”'
The winning Lotto numbers on Saturday 4 March 2023 were 06, 16, 24, 30, 33, 44 and the Bonus Ball 7.
Thanks to National Lottery players, more than £30M is generated each week for National Lottery-funded projects. This money helps support everything from the local charity making a difference where you live through to helping our nations' athletes win medals at last summer’s Commonwealth Games. To date, over £47BN has been raised for National Lottery Good Causes, with more than 670,000 individual grants awarded.