A WOMAN has won a £31,000 Postcode Lottery prize despite not living on the street for six years thanks to a loophole.
Ann and her husband Joe shared £1 million Millionaire Street prize with a whole neighbourhood in Warrington.
Postcode LotteryThe couple bagged £31,000 in the Postcode Lottery despite not living on the street[/caption]
Ann and husband Joe hit the whooping jackpot after moving out from their old property in Great Sankey.
The lucky couple left their house in Farmleigh Gardens after 20 years.
Despite having sold the property, Ann kept trying her luck on the People’s Postcode Lottery using her old house address.
She said: “We moved six years ago, and we kept playing with our old postcode and our new one.”
But the mum-of-four was left in shock when she received the life-changing news she had won a staggering £31,000.
Ann and Joe are now planning to splash the cash on a stylish 51st wedding anniversary celebration.
They also want to treat their four children, seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
New owners Leah and Matthew, who took over the house six years ago, also bagged a slice of the prize.
Leah said: “It’s mad that they’ve won too! I didn’t even know you could play with a different postcode from where you’re currently living.
“I’m made-up that they’ve won, and it was amazing to see them six years after we bought their house.”
Shocked Leah and Mathew couldn’t believe their luck when a lottery agent knocked on their door after returning from holiday.
She said: “I felt like I was dreaming. It was the surprise of our lives.”
The mum-of-three booked a last-minute holiday to Spain after being hospitalised alongside her son and husband.
“My son fell off a bouncy castle and snapped both bones in his forearm and had to have two surgeries, he’s got metal rods in his arm, and he’s got another surgery to come.
“I had surgery two weeks ago to take my gallbladder out and Matthew had nose surgery before that,” she explained.
Now the family plans to take another holiday to Florida to celebrate the windfall.
Leah said: “We were lucky enough to go to Florida last year and we thought it was a once-in-a-lifetime, but we loved it so much it can be twice-in-a-lifetime holiday now.”
A People’s Postcode Lottery spokesperson said punters can play with a different postcode from their home address.
They said: “People’s Postcode Lottery costs £12 a month to play and winning postcodes are announced every day.
“People play with their chosen postcode – this can be a postcode that is different from their home address.
“This means that some of our players who move home can continue to play with their old address’ postcode as well as their new postcode.”
It comes as a woman who scooped a £30,000 jackpot says she won’t be judged for her first act of splashing out on a £130 kettle.
Justine White, 49, told People’s Postcode Lottery presenter Danyl Johnson that she wanted “a posh new kettle“.
Postcode LotteryAnn and Joe sold their old house in Warrington to fellow winners Leah and Mathew[/caption]