Lottery-winning couple who scooped £1million reveal HUGE fright when trying to claim prize
Mick Tyler and fiancée Sarah Harmer scooped the Lotto raffle just a day before they were off to Portugal on holiday - and have used the money to bring their wedding date forward
Ben Ashton
James Hind
A newly-engaged couple who scooped £1million in the National Lottery have revealed the huge fright they endured when claiming the cash.
Mick Tyler, 35, and fiancée Sarah Harmer, 33, from Snodland near Maidstone, couldn't believe it when they got an email saying they'd bagged the life-changing amount.
But when they rang the National Lottery to claim their winnings, the call centre adviser said there had been a mistake, reports Kent Live.
Mick explained: "He said 'oh no, no you haven't won'. I looked at Sarah and I was like 'oh'.
"And then he said 'oh sorry, it's my mistake, I was looking at the wrong date' and he said 'yeah I can confirm you've won £1million'."
Mick Tyler and Sarah Harmer celebrating their £1million win (Image: PA)
The couple screamed when they realised what they'd won (Image: PA)
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The couple then started screaming, shouting and hugging.
Today they celebrated the news at the same beach where they got engaged. They are using the money for deposit on a new home, and have brought their wedding date forward by a year.
"This is all so utterly mad and yet so flipping brilliant," Mick said.
Air conditioning engineer Mick bought his ticket online for the draw on Saturday, September 29.
Mick was having dinner at a local pub with his family that same day when he saw he had an email from the National Lottery.
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He couldn't login to his online account due to poor signal and showed the email to his dad who told him 'it's probably only a few quid', so he put his phone away.
Mick said: "When we got home I logged on again and saw an email announcing I'd won £1million.
"I showed Sarah who immediately got the numbers up on the TV and cross-referenced to the winning Lotto Millionaire Raffle code."
Mick's online account explained that he needed to call the National Lottery to claim his win, although their contact centre was not open until 8am the next day.
"This is all so utterly mad and yet so flipping brilliant," Mick said
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Mick said: "We were like 'let's not get completely carried away', so we just had to wait.
"It was like, at 8am we are going to know for definite.
"We set our alarms and at 8am we were straight on the phone. We rang, we spoke to them.
"We couldn't believe it.
"We were on the phone to our family. My family came straight over.
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"We skipped a day off work. We were all celebrating all day and we took them all out for a nice lunch and a few drinks."
At the celebration at Reculver Visitor Centre, near Herne Bay, the couple also revealed how they intend on spending their winnings.
Sarah said: "We've put a deposit down on a new-build house in Snodland.
"It's got five bedrooms. It's going to be ready by March or April 2019.
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"We are both going to stay fully employed.
"We're not planning on leaving our jobs, we both love our jobs and I think it's good to carry on working because it keeps you grounded.
"You don't want to take it for granted because it's a lot of money but you've got to use it wisely."
Mick added: "For months, every evening we have been walking our dog Ralph past this development of beautiful homes joking that if we won the lottery we'd move there. And now we have, and now we will.
"Yesterday we were picking the flooring and kitchen cupboards for a lavish five-bedroom detached dream home, two weeks ago we were choosing new wallpaper for our three bed-semi."
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