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Lucky scratchcard winner tells of plans to buy new car

Co Down man Martin McKenna (right in the green shirt) celebrates with friend Gerard after winning £1 million on a scratchcard
Co Down man Martin McKenna (right in the green shirt) celebrates with friend Gerard after winning £1 million on a scratchcard Co Down man Martin McKenna (right in the green shirt) celebrates with friend Gerard after winning £1 million on a scratchcard

A CO DOWN man who bought a life-changing lottery scratchcard after popping out to buy groceries has told of plans to buy a Volkswagen car with his winnings.

Martin McKenna (35), from Crossgar, bought the winning £1 million ticket at a Tesco store after being sent to get items for dinner by his girlfriend Ceri.

The bank worker, who said he thought the lucky card was a prank now plans to use his winnings to clear debts and buy a new house and car.

"I want to buy a new house, clear my debts and treat my family and friends. I’ve also always wanted to own a Volkswagen car so I will be visiting a showroom as soon as I can to buy one for myself and one for Ceri."

The millionaire picked up his winning ticket in Tesco’s Knocknagoney store in east Belfast.

Mr McKenna said: "I scratched one first and was delighted to see that I had won £20. I decided to collect the money so I joined the queue again and whilst waiting to be served I scratched the Millionaire 777 Red scratchcard and was stunned when it revealed that I’d won a whopping £1,000,000.

"I couldn’t shake the idea that someone was pranking me and that the scratchcard wasn’t real. I left the queue and continued my shopping as I tried to process what was going on. I simply couldn’t believe that this was really happening."

He added: "When I look back now I think I was in shock. So I asked the cashier if the scratchcards they sold were all real to which he replied that they were all genuine. It was then I revealed to him that I thought I’d just won a lot of money."

After leaving the store, Mr McKenna went and sat in his car "in a state of disbelief."

Mr McKenna said: "On the short drive home I thought about how I would reveal the incredible news to Ceri."

"As soon I walked through the door she was holding a big pot of spaghetti so I told her to put it down, that I had some news for her."

"She asked me to text a couple of friends of ours, Gareth and Gerard, but I didn’t tell them why I wanted them to pop round."

He added: "However, after a few moments the news really sunk in with them all. We couldn’t even shout and scream with joy as our young son was asleep upstairs in bed – but believe me we were screaming on the inside."