A group of ventilation workers are celebrating an early Christmas after scooping a cool £1 million in the Euromillions.
The syndicate of 16, from Coupar Angus, Perthshire, will each now receive £62,500.
MJVentilation’s syndicate only started playing in February this year, but were shocked when they won the huge sum in the Euromillions UK Millionaire Maker on December 2.
Members Darren Graham, 35, Gareth Dack, 36, Philip Souter, 32, Stephen Robertson, 26, Louise Robertson, 29, Gail Brown, 40, Graeme Lacey, 51, Bruce Richards, 39, John Cunningham, 51, and Colleen Mallis, 28, are now looking forward to a very happy Christmas.
Syndicate leader Darren said: “I can’t believe it – and I’m still in shock.
“We’ve all worked together for a number of years but only decided to start the syndicate earlier this year; to win £1M in such a short time is truly amazing.”
He added: “I nipped into the local Scotmid to check our tickets and the sales adviser said that we’d ‘won a substantial amount of money’ on one of them.
“I asked how much but she couldn’t tell me and advised that I phone the claim line.
“I remember having a laugh with her at that point and jokingly saying ‘maybe I’ve won the jackpot’ – little did I know.
“I decided to check the results online first to see if I could get any answers. As soon as I saw the matching UK Millionaire Maker code I realised and it suddenly hit me – we’d just won £1M.
“Even though I could see it plain as day, I still couldn’t, or wouldn’t, let myself believe it. I kept second guessing it and thinking that there was going to be a catch.
“I told the rest of the syndicate members at work on the Monday and that’s really when it sank in.
“Their reactions were so different, from jumping up and down while screaming, to complete and utter disbelief.
“That was such a special day in the office, but I was still getting asked if I was joking at 5pm.
“We’ve all been on such a high that none of us have really had a chance to think about what we’re going to spend our winnings on.
“Personally, I’ll definitely be looking into putting a deposit down on a new house.
“As a group, I think this is going to be a pretty spectacular Christmas and New Year – although, I don’t think the presents under the Christmas tree are going to be nearly as good as this one.”
The MJV Syndicate played EuroMillions every Friday, purchasing 16 Lucky Dip tickets – one for every syndicate member.
The group purchased their winning ticket from the Scotmid in Coupar Angus.