EuroMillions joy as woman put on furlough and then made redundant scoops £250,000 prize
Written by News on 09/12/2020
A woman made redundant during the COVID-19 pandemic plans to buy a new home with her boyfriend after winning almost £250,000 on the lottery.
Samantha Morton was furloughed from her warehouse management job in Dorchester, Dorset, earlier this year and was made redundant later in the summer.
During her furlough period, the 36-year-old year moved to Benfleet in Essex to stay with her boyfriend Barry Lingard, a machine operator at a local recycling centre.
Ms Morton was able to get another job as a warehouse operative and regularly worked overtime hours to make extra money – and has since enjoyed a “life-changing” lottery win.
She said she was “in a bit of a daze” after finding out she had won £242,775.50 in the EuroMillions draw, with the online Lucky Dip, and that the successful 27 November entry had changed her life.
The excited winner said: “Essex is where we want to be and this life-changing win means that Barry and I can start looking for a house of our own – it will be amazing!
“The day that I found out I had won, which was on Saturday morning after the draw on Friday night, I was asked by my manager if I wanted to do some overtime.
“I think that’s the moment when the win started to sink in as, rather than having to weigh up the extra cash against extra hours, I was able to say straight away – and very politely – ‘No thanks!'”
She is also planning to buy her hire purchase car outright, pay off her debts, and go on holiday to a hot country when it is safe to do so.
“It’s been a tough year but I couldn’t feel more lucky right now,” Ms Morton said.
“This Christmas is going to be extra special. Like everyone else, we’re looking forward to a better year next year.”
(c) Sky News 2020: EuroMillions joy as woman put on furlough and then made redundant scoops £250,000 prize
