A group of Scots car garage workers are celebrating after scooping £1million as part of a lottery syndicate.
The 11-strong team of mechanics, technicians, and office staff from GPG Montrose Garage in Angus said they thought it was a joke when their syndicate leader revealed they had a winning ticket. The group scooped the windfall playing EuroMillions UK Millionaire Maker online - and they now have lots of plans on how they will spend their winnings of over £90,000 each.
Included on the shopping list are garden renovations, new camper vans, motorhome upgrades, home improvements, new bathrooms, cars and dream holidays. Lesley Forsyth, 56, from Montrose - whose husband, Arthur, is the syndicate leader - said she thought it was a scam when her husband woke her at 7am back in February to say the group had won.
Lesley, who supports her family in the running of the garage, said, “For some reason we had both woken at around 4am and Arthur went on to his phone and saw on his email there was news about our National Lottery ticket. He clicked through to the National Lottery website to discover we had won £2.80.
“We both went back to sleep and then Arthur woke again around 6am and went back on his emails and noticed there was a message saying congratulations you have won! Still half asleep, he didn’t really connect with what had actually happened.
"He just started shouting, ‘oh my goodness, oh my goodness’. I wondered what on earth had happened. He said, ‘the garage, our syndicate, we have won £1M!’ I said ‘no, this can’t be true, it must be a scam’ and he just kept saying, ‘no Lesley, it isn’t. I am on the official National Lottery page and this really is true!’
“We immediately called Cheryl, one of the syndicate members who looks after all of the payments and paperwork and made an excuse that she needed to come to our house. She could not believe it when she arrived and we told her we had won.
“I think the news is still sinking in, you hear of people winning all the time but you just never ever think it will happen to you – a garage business in Montrose!”
On Wednesday the group took to the beach with bottles of champagne as they were pictured celebrating the win. All of the team will continue to work at the garage - expect for one lucky employee who collected his winnings on the day of his retirement.
Robert Pert, 66, from Montrose, said, “Well, this win couldn’t have come at a better time – on the day of my retirement. Definitely a reason for a very big and very special celebration!”
Laura Forsyth, who is the daughter of Lesley and Arthur, said she could not believe it when her phone rang at 6.30am and it was her mum. She said: “My mum never calls at this time – why would she? When the phone rang I wondered what on earth had happened.
“When she said we had won The National Lottery I literally just grabbed the first clothes I could see, got dressed and raced to my mum and dad’s house. It is just unreal – and it’s certainly a life-enhancing moment for every single one of us. I actually think what has happened is still sinking in – you just never think that something like this will happen to you!”
The other syndicate members include Arthur Forsyth, 57, who looks after the day-to-day running of the garage, from Montrose; Allan Stevenson, technician, 59, from Laurencekirk; Cheryl Milne, 28, office manager from Montrose; Laura Forsyth, 31, one of the directors, from Montrose; Laura Guthrie, 35, a member of the office team, from Brechin; Martin Guthrie, 30, a technician, from Montrose, and Raymond Nicoll, 47, a workshop manager, from Montrose.
The GPG Montrose Syndicate bought their National Lottery EuroMillions ticket for the draw on February 7, 2023, online, using the National Lottery app. The GPG Montrose syndicate’s winning Millionaire Maker code was JHJG 53786.
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