A Lochaber couple nearly missed out on winning £500 in a Press and Journal competition when they threw away the paper containing their lucky number.
The newspaper published a special code in every edition of Saturday’s YL magazine and the 10 winning numbers were listed in Monday’s P&J.
Pensioners Pauline and Brian McDermott, of Kilmallie Road, Caol, put the magazine in their recycling bin after they had finished reading it.
But retired senior social worker, Mrs McDermott, fished it out again yesterday morning after reading about other winners in the P&J.
She said: “It reminded me about the competition, so I went out and got the paper back in.
“Thankfully we hadn’t used it to light the fire and the bin had not been emptied, so it was still there.
“I brought it in without any anticipation of winning as I am a pensioner and have never won anything before in my life.
“I just couldn’t believe it when I saw that we had one of the numbers.”
She told her husband, who is a retired stonemason, the good news and he was delighted as he had never won anything either.
Mrs McDermott said: “My husband bought the paper and I rang up about the number, so I think we’ll have to share the money.
“I don’t know what we’ll spend it on yet. I think we’ll just give ourselves a wee treat.”
The competition was held to mark advances in printing technology, which means that every single copy published can be made unique.
A new printing system pioneered by publisher DC Thomson removes the need for press plates to be changed to give every copy an identity of its own.
The technology being used involves a new digital printing head, which sprays one billion droplets of ink per second, allowing it to change text and images without slowing down the speed of the printing press.