A grandmother became a EuroMillions winner for just 10 minutes before having all hope of a dream retirement snatched away.
Margaret De Micheli, 72, believed she would be showered in riches after being told that she had won the £34 million jackpot.
The pensioner bought her ticket on March 29 and did not get around the checking the results until last week.
She was bowled over when she went to the post office and was given a slip by the shopkeeper to confirm she had won.
Ms De Micheli was advised to check the numbers one more time at a nearby Tesco in Swiss Cottage, north London.
She hurried across the road to the store where Tesco staff looked at the ticket and gave her the crushing news that she did not have the winning numbers.
The nan then called up the National Lottery who confirmed the news, and her hopes of a retirement for her hard working husband, 78, vanished.
"I was gutted. I'd never had one of these claiming tickets before and I've been doing the lotto since it started," she told the Sun.
"I thought it was because I had two lines on my EuroMillions ticket."
Ms De Micheli thought her winning line included the numbers she had chosen based on her grandson's date of birth.
But when she phoned the lottery line to check her numbers, they did not add up.
When she asked why she had been handed the claiming ticket at the shop, she was told that this was probably meant for the person in front of her.
Now she fears that the rightful lottery winner wrongly thinks they did not win and is urging everybody to check their tickets, particularly in the Swiss Cottage area.
The nan described what went through her head the moment she thought she had hit the jackpot and said her first thought was letting her beloved husband retire.
"When I got the ticket I wasn't thinking about millions, maybe £25,000 or something like that," she said.
"I just wanted enough so I could phone my husband and tell him to come home, so he could retire from work.
"He's a traffic warden and it's a thankless job. He's 79 this year. He goes out at 5.15am and comes home about 4.45pm."
Ms De Micheli, who has been married to her husband for 54 years, said she just wants him to be able to hang up his boots.
She told how he should have retired aged 65 but that the pair cannot afford it due to the service charges where they live.
While his work keeps his brain active, she said his body is weary and she "couldn't bear" life without him.
