I won £100,000 lottery prize but had to BEG my boss for the day off to accept it – now I have to apologise to her

A PEOPLE’S Postcode Lottery winner had told how he had to beg his boss for a day off to accept his £111,111 prize.

Michael Whitaker, from Keighley in West Yorkshire, skipped out on a vital meeting which left his colleagues fuming. 

Michael said he rang up his boss to tell her he wouldn’t be able to make his 11am design and compliance meeting because he had to accept his winnings.

His boss was forced to lie to others in the 11am design and compliance meeting, hiding the real reason for Michael’s absence.

He said: “I rang my boss and told her Postcode Lottery are here. But I had a design and compliance finance meeting at 11am and I had all the figures.

“Luckily, my boss was ecstatic for me and said she wouldn’t tell anyone in the meeting as to why I couldn’t make it.”

Michael added that he would now have to apologise to his boss for the blunder.

He added: “I’m going to ring my boss up and apologise that I didn’t make the meeting, but look at this.”

The adrenaline junky joined others on his street in bagging £111,111, which he hopes to use towards a “once-in-a-lifetime” tour around the Norweigan Fjords.

Michael, who has scuba dived all around the country, said he was astounded when he received the cheque.

“When I saw the cheque, I thought £11,000 and then… I processed it and there was six digits! It’s incredible,” he said.

When asked what he was going to do with all of the extra money he said he dreamt of taking his new motorbike, a Triumph Tiger 900, on a road trip.

“I want to go more adventuring. I want to get out there, I want to see places, I want to go places,” he said.

He added: “You have dreams but they’re not dreams anymore now. This brings them into reality.”

The clerk landed the massive cash prize along with eight of his neighbours in Shann Crescent, Keighly, after their postcode BD21 2TN landed the weekly Millionaire Street prize on Monday.

Every cheque was worth £111,111.

Across the road, Sanna Babar, who also cashed in the six-figure sum, said she is now planning a trip to Walt Disney World in Florida for her two daughters.

She said: “We were thinking of going to Disneyland Paris in August next year, but it could be Florida now!”

“I was trying to save up money, but I don’t need to do that now and I could bring my mum and dad too. It was a sort of fantasy before, but I’m going to do it,” she added.

For Melanie Granger a postwoman in the area, winning a share of the £1 million was particularly special as she had previously delivered these gold envelopes herself.

Melanie, who works out of Royal Mail’s Skipton Delivery Office, plans on exploring more of the Caribbean and buying a new iPad with the money.

But first the postie is kicking-off her spending-spree in style by booking a trip to Spain for her cousin’s wedding.

She said: “My cousin, who lives in London, is getting married to his Spanish fiancée in Granada and I’m going to the wedding. It’ll be a very good party, that’s for sure.”

“It’s definitely the best envelope I’ve ever had,” she said.

The postie had coincidentally taken the day off from work, which meant she was able to proudly accept the “big envelope with a huge cheque.”

“Everything has come together. I’m normally working, and I’ve picked the right day for my day off,” she said.

Some 33 per cent of tickets go to charity and good causes, says the People’s Postcode Lottery website.

This time round, Keighley Healthy Living, a charity which provides a variety of groups and services to locals in the community, was awarded £80,000 by the Postcode Community Trust.

Melanie Hey, CEO of Keighley Healthy Living, said: “When we received the call about the funding, we just couldn’t believe it. Not only because £80,000 is a phenomenal amount of money, but because it’s been granted to us at the perfect time.

The winners told People’s Postcode Lottery that they were thrilled to have helped local organisation receive extra funding as a result of their win.