National Lottery bosses are looking for three identical Set For Life prize winners from the same draw....in the same area of the country.
One lucky winner may have just weeks to claim a prize worth £360,000. Miners dressed in 1900s costumes posed with the winners' cheques at lottery-funded Beamish, The Living Museum of the North, to highlight the search.
The missing winner or winners bought their tickets in the Set For Life draw on Jan 9 this year. The deadline to claim three identical prizes of £10,000 a month for a year is only weeks away.
It falls on July 8, 2023 and Camelot spokesman Patrick Lisoire said: "It is a most unusual situation. We don't know if one person has bought three tickets with the same numbers. Perhaps the tickets belong to a syndicate.
"It is possible that a husband bought one without knowing his wife had got one as well with the same numbers - and maybe the third came from another family member.
"But the winner or winners are out there in Co Durham and they need to check their tickets quickly to claim these prizes."
Andy Carter, senior winners' advisor at the National Lottery, added: "We are hoping winners in Co Durham and beyond will act on the call from Beamish miners to dig out their tickets."
Beamish received £10.9m in a National Lottery Heritage grant in 2016 which has been used for a major expansion, including a new 1950s era attraction and moving Spain's Field farm in Weardale brick by brick, a project which took several years.
Dressed in her Edwardian costume, museum spokeswoman Julie Wilson said: "We were keen to do everything we can to find the missing winners."
The miners posed with Flash the pit pony, who was not too happy to join the photocall.
Mark Dodd, of nearby Tanfield and dressed as a miner, joked: "He is stubborn as a mule. The message is - get your tickets out!"
