A woman plagued with bad luck had a dramatic change of fortune when she won £300,000 on a scratchcard. A trip to buy bread and milk turned out to be life-changing.
Karen Parkin, 51, started playing scratchcards after she stood behind a woman in a shop who was told she had won £50,000. Weeks later, Karen, who gave up her job as a delivery driver after suffering from arthritis of the spine, popped out to the shops for a few basic items.
While standing in the queue, she remembered the woman who had won £50,000 and treated herself to two Cosmic Cash games which cost £3 each. When she got home, she scratched off the panels of one of the cards and discovered she had won the top prize of £300,000.
Karen, from Nottingham, has splashed out on a VW California campervan. She also plans to treat her mum to a trip to Cairo and the Maldives. She said: “I was in a newsagent a while back and this lady was in front of me in the queue. She asked the assistant to check a scratchcard because she thought she’d won £5,000.
“She’d actually won £50,000. From then on, I started buying scratchcards and now I too am a winner. On the night I won I’d been at home and I needed some bread and milk so went down to my local shop.
“I also bought two National Lottery Scratchcards then went home, put the kettle on and sat down in the kitchen with a coffee before watching The Chase. I scratched the first one and saw that I’d won and just sat there.
“I can’t even remember if I scratched the second one, it’s all a bit of a blur. I remember calling my friend Tony and asking him to pop round to help me check it.
“He said it looked like I was a winner, so I called the National Lottery line to claim. The lady on the phone confirmed that I was indeed a winner, and that someone would call me back shortly to guide me through the process.
“I then called my sister Rachael, asked her if she was sitting down and then told her my incredible news. I then called my mum who thought something was wrong as I also asked if she was sitting down before telling her that I had some news.”
Karen celebrated with a small glass of wine before hiding the winning scratchcard in tea towels. She said: “I wrapped it in some tea towels and placed it in a drawer. It’s safe to say I didn’t sleep a wink that night.”
She added: “I still can’t believe it’s happened to me; I normally get all the bad luck. If something bad is going to happen to someone then it’s always me. Life will be less stressful and it just feels brilliant.”
