Last Wednesday's £4.5 million UK Lotto jackpot has been claimed by a 42-year-old man from North London.
Road Sweeper Joseph Whiting is used to starting his day early and when he got out of bed at 4am on Thursday, September 18, 2014, the first thing he did was check his ticket.
Speaking to UK National Lottery representatives yesterday, the father of three said: "I woke up and checked the numbers on teletext at four in the morning and I saw all six numbers. I couldn't believe it. I didn't have my glasses on so I put them on and checked two or three more times."
After he'd finally convinced himself his eyes weren't playing tricks on him Whiting shared the news with his mother, and promptly got accused of playing tricks on her.
"Give over," she told him. "It's too early in the morning for jokes like that."
Not wanting to press the point any further, Whiting headed for work.
"I don't know how I got through the day," Whiting said. "My mind was all over the place. You can check 100 times and you are still not sure."
Any doubts he may have had were quickly assuaged that evening when he returned home and contacted the National Lottery organizers, Camelot UK, who confirmed the win.
When asked about his plans for the future, the lucky winner said he intends to take some driving lessons, buy a larger house, and treat his children by taking them to Disneyland.
