James Wilson is celebrating after he discovered a winning EuroMillions ticket in his wallet – the day before the ticket was due to expire, making him more than £51,000 richer.
James, 28, , was clearing out an old wallet when he stumbled across his ticket and thought he'd better double-check it before the deadline.
Sure enough, when he looked online, he realised he had matched the five main numbers in the EuroMillions draw on 28 March, 2014, netting himself an amazing £51,232.90.
James said: "I called Camelot straight away but because it was so late in the evening, their lines were closed until the morning.
"I can't tell you how relieved I was when I got through to someone the following morning and they confirmed I wasn't too late to claim my prize.
"When I met with The National Lottery adviser, he told me Camelot had been publishing details of the missing ticket through the press for the past six months, but I had no idea. It was purely luck that I stumbled on the ticket before it expired."
James, who works in Keynsham, recently got married and he and his wife are currently living with her parents near Bath while they save up for the deposit on a house – something they are now able to afford.
James said: "This win will make such a massive difference to us. We worked hard and managed to save up for our wedding but couldn't afford our own house too. Now we can start house hunting and hopefully afford a couple of treats along the way."
James is a keen cyclist, but has not been able to compete recently.
He hopes this windfall will enable him to get back to racing again, something he has not been able to afford to do.
He is also planning to treat his wife to a new car to help her travel between her part-time job and her studying.
