Our winning ticket for £57m Euromillions jackpot was destroyed – we almost lost out on cash after shopkeeper’s mistake

A RETIRED Scottish couple revealed they almost missed on a whopping £57million in the Euromillions jackpot after their ticket ripped in half.

Fred, 73, and his wife Lesley Higgans, 63, were stunned after their lucky ticket won them the entire Euromillions jackpot.

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However, they almost missed out on the prize money after the shopkeeper mistakenly ripped their ticket in two before realising it was a winner.

“I handed the ticket over and the young man put it through the machine, telling me it wasn’t a winner,” Mr Higgans explained.

“He ripped the ticket in two and threw it into the bin, as they would with all non-winning tickets.

“But this time, the terminal produced a chitty which said I needed to retain my ticket and call Camelot.

“The retailer immediately grabbed it out of the bin and handed it to me, not realising it was a winner before he discarded it.

Luckily for Fred his winning numbers were still clear enough for him to confirm the win.

The pair were now £52,975,367 richer than before and had a higher worth than Idris Elba.

Fred and Lesly, who have been married for more than 40 years, always dreamed of living abroad.

Fred said: “We love Gozo (an island in Malta), which is where my niece lives, so we always thought we would get somewhere out there.

“But I have to say since we won, I’ve got my eye on somewhere in France and Lesley seems to be looking at property in Barbados.

“I think it might be fun to explore a few places before we commit to buying anything.”

The newly founded millionaire splashed their cash on a stunning £8million estate in Perthshire.

The huge Victorian mansions boast six bedrooms, three cottages an orangery and a private trout fishing loch.

However, the couple from Dundee said they have become more suspicious of people after winning big.

It comes after another couple scooped up a £61million jackpot two months ago.

He warned: “Sometimes you need to be suspicious of people and wary of their motives.”

Despite their mega wealth, savvy Fred never stopped being “frugal” with his money and once haggled £33,000 off the price of his flash motor.

He said: “It’s hard to get out of the mindset of being frugal after all these years.

“Subtle changes have happened, like the car you can get. But when I got my six series BMW I negotiated and got £33,000 off.”

Besides the £8million Victorian Mamasion and Fred’s luxury motor, the married couple also splashed £5million on more than 200 acres of farmland.

An advert for the first plot said it is suitable for growing “arable crops, potatoes, peas and grass”.

Fred and Lesley began a new business venture in 2021 when they set up Red Squirrel Farming Ltd.

They also delivered hand-made bird boxes to the Miley Wildlife Reserve in Dundee and set up a charitable trust in the northeast.

This post first appeared on thesun.co.uk