Couple celebrate £1m lottery win – after first thinking that it was a scam

Ruth Giblin, 44, almost forgot to buy the winning UK Millionaire Maker ticket on the day of the draw on July 22 and needed reminding by her husband, Rob – while she went out to do karate

A lucky couple won £1million on the lottery but nearly missed out – after forgetting to buy a ticket and initially thinking it was a scam

Leisure centre supervisor Ruth Giblin, 44, and engineer husband Rob, 48, won the life-changing amount of money after matching one of the UK Millionaire Maker codes on the EuroMillions last month.

However, Ruth almost forgot to buy the winning ticket on the day of the draw on July 22 and needed reminding by her husband – while she went out to do karate.

And the sceptical pair thought they were being scammed when she received a winning notification on the National Lottery app the following day.

It was only when they called up Camelot to confirm their win that they realised they had become millionaires and immediately burst into tears.

Ruth, from Shropshire, said: “Rob reminded me to put the EuroMillions ticket on, as he has to every week, whilst I was out.

“I bought it and promptly forgot all about the ticket and went straight to Karate that evening.

“The next morning, we got up early for a swim and I saw I had an email telling me I had good news about my ticket.

“When I logged into my National Lottery app, I could see I had only matched one number, but it was telling me I had won £1 million, I was very confused.”

Ruth was convinced it was a con so proceeded to search for the phone number she needed to ring to check the win was real.

She added: “I was sure it was a scam, but when I saw it was the correct number for Camelot, I tried to phone it, only to find they were not yet open.

“Instead of waiting around, we decided to still go swimming. Although it was clearly all we could think about as every so often, Rob would stop and say, ‘what if it is real?!’.

“We talked all the way home about what we would do if it was true, but I was trying not to get my hopes up.

“When we finally called Camelot, they asked me what I could see and then they confirmed we were millionaires. We were just stunned and started crying.”

Ruth and Rob then woke their two children up to share the good news and went across the road to Ruth’s parents to tell them, on what was her dad’s birthday.

The pair plan to keep their jobs but share their newfound wealth with the rest of their family including building an extension onto Ruth’s parents’ home.

They have also paid off their mortgage and will jet off on a luxury holiday together as well as buy themselves a new kitchen.

They are also planning to build a summerhouse for their 13-year-old daughter to use as an arts room and a gaming computer for their 16-year-old son.

Ruth added: “This win means so much to us as a family.

“It means I get to help my parents by building an extension onto their house so there’s enough bedrooms for everyone to sleep in.

“My parents look after my sister who has additional needs so an extension will mean everyone can get a proper night’s sleep.”

Ruth’s winning EuroMillions UK Millionaire Maker code for the EuroMillions draw on Friday, July 22 was TLBX74150.