Castleford woman distraught as eight neighbours win almost £250k on postcode lottery days after leaflets through door

Katie Drurey put the leaflet to one side in June in anticipation of signing up when she found five minutes to spare.

However, less than one week later her WF10 4EB Castleford postcode was drawn - with eight of her neighbours winning £30,000 each.

Each of the neighbours netted the cash after lottery ambassador Judie McCourt knocked on their doors.

Katie has now had to sit and watch in envy as her neighbours enjoyed the winnings.

She has since signed up twice for the draw in the anticipation lightning strikes twice and her postcode comes up again.

Speaking to the Yorkshire Post, Katie said: "We received the information in the post and said let’s join that.

"We put it to one side and the following weekend our postcode came up.

"We were absolutely gutted."

Among the celebrating neighbours was Joanne Thourgood, 58, who said she was stunned by the win.

She said: “We’ve just won £30,000! I’m shocked, I can’t believe it, I never thought it would happen to us, but it has.

“I never thought I’d get that knock on the door.”

Joanne, who is a support worker for people with learning disabilities, was joined by her husband Andrew when she learned of the win. The couple said they plan to use some of the winnings for a dream holiday.

Joanne said: “We’ll have a nice holiday. I’ve always wanted to go to Australia, we’ve got friends in Australia and now we can go.

“I think I want to go to Bondi Beach!”

Katie joked she would have been "doubly" gutted if the postcode was drawn again, so made sure she quickly signed up.

"We have joined now.

"I know it’s like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted but if it did by chance happen again we would be doubly gutted!

"We have bought two tickets so we get double if we do win in the future."

The People's Postcode Lottery was created to raise funds for charities in Britain and beyond.