A Sunday morning snack run for his son finally saw Darren spot the lost fortune
I Drove Around For Four Months With A £1M Winning Ticket In My Car
A dad who had been driving around in his car with a £1million winning lottery ticket in his battered old Citroen for four months – leaving the car unlocked when he parked it – had no idea it was there until he went to grab a bag of crisps. Darren Burfitt, 44, now says he is going to replace his ‘shed on wheels’ despite the fact it safely stored his winning Euromillions prize for months.
Darren only realised he was a millionaire when he went out to the car on a Sunday morning to grab a bag of crisps for his son.
Darren, 44, from Swansea, had been repeatedly urged by family and friends to check his tickets after an appeal went out to find a missing millionaire from the EuroMillions draw on October 18, 2024. Darren, a green-keeper at Langland Bay Golf Club, said: “I had a few tickets in the central console of my car – it is where I always keep them for safety, and I just hadn’t got round to checking them.
“When my son asked for a packet of crisps I didn’t want to open a new bag – we often end up with half open bags of crisps and I knew there was a packet which he hadn’t finished in the car so I said I would pop out and get this one for him. I decided to grab my National Lottery tickets at the same time, went back into the house and started to scan each one on The National Lottery app on my phone.”
Darren, whose tickets had been stashed in his grey Citroen DS4, said he was made up when one of the tickets pinged as he scanned it and discovered he had won £3.60. He said: “One of the tickets was particularly creased so I thought I would leave that one until the end. It was so crumpled it wouldn’t scan, so I had to bring up the draw details and read the results.
“I couldn’t quite believe it when I did… Infact, I still cannot believe it now. I just kept looking at the date and then the matching EuroMillions Millionaire Maker code – and then the date and the code again – I just could not comprehend what I was seeing.”
As the news sunk in, it slowly dawned on Darren that he’d left his car unlocked every day for the last four months and anyone could have swiped his winning £1M ticket. Darren said: “My car is honestly a shed on wheels, held together with mud. It has almost no value, so I never bother to lock it! I dread to think what could have happened to that winning ticket.”
Darren’s wife, Gemma, a teaching assistant, was away overnight when Darren discovered his win. “When I called Gemma my voice was shaking so much, she was convinced something had happened to one of the children. I said no – we have won one million pounds! But she just wouldn’t believe me.”
The couple, who also have a six-year-old daughter, now have their sights set on buying their first home together; Darren also wants a new pick-up truck to replace his car. Darren said:“I keep dreaming of a trip to see The Ashes in Australia – but a pick-up truck is first on the list. The kids will love the pick-up, and it will enable us to go on even more adventures as a family.”
Gemma, 34, said, “I just could never imagine having this much money – it is an unreal feeling. I literally have to keep pinching myself – thinking it is a dream which I will wake up from! We love our lives and enjoy great caravan holidays but this just takes things to another level and allows us to do even more as a family. It changes everything and we can finally buy a home of our own. It is going to give us so much security for our future and our children’s future.”
Darren, originally from Burnley, bought his winning EuroMillions ticket from Morrisons Daily in Penllergaer for the draw on October 18 2024, and matched the Millionaire Maker code: JDDF38095 to win £1,000,000. He said: “We were on our way to a caravan holiday and I stopped to pick up a few cans on route and just thought I would buy a ticket. I always buy my National Lottery tickets from the same local shop but as we were on the way to our holiday, we decided to stop and buy a few drinks and a EuroMillions ticket at the same time.”
