A mum-of-two has decided to pack in her second job at a supermarket after she won on the Euromillions.
Sally-Ann Hanitzsch, 55, from Cambourne in Cambridgeshire says she will also splash out on a family holiday of a lifetime in Japan, a new house and a new car after scooping £838,125.50 on the prize draw.
On top of her regular Monday to Friday 9-5 as an Assets Officer at Cambridge City Council, she had also been working a solid 20 hours a week at Morrisons in her hometown in the run-up to Christmas.
A regular player of the lottery who buys her tickets at work, Sally-Ann had forgotten to check hers until January, a whole month after her numbers had come up - as she didn't think she had any chance.
Describing the moment her colleague at the customer service desk told her she'd won, she said: "Before I start every shift at Morrisons, I always buy some snacks and sometimes a National Lottery ticket. It was on a Saturday shift in January when I had a couple of minutes and thought I’d check my tickets.
"I rarely check them because I never think I’ll win but asked a colleague to scan and she said you need to call The National Lottery now and sign the ticket. I thought she was joking but I called during my break before returning for rest of my nine-hour shift, knowing I was £838,000 richer.
"Then all of a sudden lots of other staff members started to arrive at the kiosk asking about the win. Word had got round that someone had won big…and it was me."
Sally-Ann said her son thought she had "lost the plot" when she phoned him at work, with her daughter also not entirely believing her when she got the call.
After completing the rest of her shift on the day of her win, she worked five consecutive evening shifts at Morrisons before leaving the job for good.
Enjoying her newfound spare time, she will continue to work in her position at Cambridge City Council as she "loves" her job and her colleagues there, and recalled how her supervisor cried when she told her about what had happened.
The mum, whose son Jack, 27 and daughter Sophie, 22, both live at home at home with her, hopes her win will help her children get onto the property ladder while allowing herself to move out of social housing.
She said: “I’m now debt free, I’m buying a home having lived in social housing for years. I’m going to help Jack and Sophie to get onto the property ladder, buy a new car, probably a new Ford Fiesta as I don’t need anything bigger, go on a few holidays and plan the big trip to Japan.
"The win means I’ll be able to have some of that time back and also help my family financially. With the extra time I now have, I can plan to do the things I’ve always wanted to do.
The winning EuroMillions numbers for the draw on Friday 2 December 2022 were 12, 21, 35, 39 and 45, while the Lucky Stars were 6 and 11.
