Flippin ‘eck! Our onion seed lottery ticket’s won us £1.3m

THEY say you reap what you sow, but for one lucky Hull couple a trip to buy onion seeds produced more than they bargained for - a “mind-blowing” lottery win of more than £1.3 million.

In a reversal of the Jack and the Beanstalk fairytale, keen gardeners Lance Cram, 48, and his wife Marie, 46, from Hull, went out to buy the seeds to plant in their allotment.

The working-class couple returned with a winning Lotto ticket, using the same numbers they have put down since the National Lottery began.

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When pipe-fitter Mr Cram realised they had won, he exclaimed to his wife: “Flippin’ ‘eck, Marie.”

Describing the memorable day, Mr Cram said he was sent home from work early due to bad weather.

He was getting ready to go to watch his beloved Hull FC rugby league team when he checked the draw result from the previous evening online and realised he had won.

“I shouted, ‘flippin’ ‘eck, Marie’ and called her into the kitchen to take a look.”

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Mr Cram decided to continue his afternoon as normal and went to the rugby match.

He said: “I just thought ‘this is unreal’. This doesn’t happen to normal people. I’m sat down with three close friends and I couldn’t tell them anything. I went home and the Sunday lunch was there and I just couldn’t eat it.

“It’s a very frightening situation to be in. Over the last week or a fortnight, things have started to unfold, it has been verified and we’re very fortunate, lucky people.”

Mrs Cram added: “It was a bizarre situation to be in. You always dream it’s going to happen but you never think it’s going to happen to you. It’s just mind-blowing, we’re everyday working people.”

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It wasn’t until the couple’s eldest son, who is 18, came back from university four days later that they told him and his 15-year-old brother.

Mr Cram said: “It was a fantastic moment to tell your son that hopefully you’re going to come out of university with no debts or anything like that because it’s a huge issue.”

They said they had to take special care in telling Mrs Cram’s parents as they are in their 80s.

Apart from paying for their sons’ education, the couple’s immediate plans for the money include buying Mrs Cram a new car and taking the whole family on holiday to Florida.

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The couple also plan to see Bruce Springsteen play live and one day visit Australia.

Mr Cram said he would “take a step back” from his contract work, while Mrs Cram said she would scale down her hours as a special needs school teaching assistant.

Mr Cram said: “Work was a big thing in our life because we did have to put quite a lot of hours in.”

The couple said they had only won £92 since the lottery began in 1994 until they scooped this £1,373,420 prize.

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He said they would carry on playing. “I think if it did happen again, I would have a heart attack. But it is a life-changing thing and if it happened again, we would have the opportunity to change other people’s lives.”