Man, 20, won £7.5MILLION in lottery – but was fixing blocked drains day after life-changing win for gutting reason
A MULTI-MILLIONARIE who won a fortune in the lottery was set for his life to change – but he’s still laying drains in the cold for work.
James Clarkson from Carlisle, Cumbria, found out he’d won £7.5million, and was planning to quit work before someone had other ideas.
James, who works as a trainee gas engineer, was back out in the cold fixing drains the day after he secured his millions.
But the 20-year-old won’t be retiring as his dad won’t let him quit working.
James is still driving around in his work van instead of his dream car.
The millionaire said: “I was out in the cold fixing blocked drains the day after I found out I had won.
“It was a bit grim but that’s reality.
“I’m not going to stop working, I’m too young.
“I want to qualify as a heating engineer and then go from there.
“I need to have a purpose in life, plus dad wouldn’t let me not work anyway.
“He says there are plenty of millionaires out there that still work and you need a reason to get up each day.”
James stressed that he has plans for what to spend his fortune on, which mainly includes holidays and designer clothes.
One of his first purchases was an all-inclusive luxury break to Cape Verde.
He also nabbed a few designer items including a Gucci bag for his girlfriend and two new jackets for himself, so at least he can look stylish on the job.
The young millionaire also has plans to help his extended family and pay off his parents’ mortgage.
He said: “I’ve been thinking about it a lot, it’s what I want to do. I told them last night and they seemed really overwhelmed.
“We are close and they have always been there for me. This win isn’t just for me, I want to make sure we all benefit.”
He’ll also bag a season ticket for his favourite football team – Manchester City.
James recognises how lucky he is to be able to buy the car and is set to stay humble.
He continued: “If you drive a cold work van all day, going from job to job, you’d understand.
“The comfort, the steering, the heated seats.
“I realise how jammy that sounds, not many people my age can afford the car insurance let alone a car like that to drive.”
James played on the National Lottery app, choosing his winning numbers – 16, 19, 22, 24, 27 and 35 – at random.
This choice left the young man with a respectable £7,533,329.
LOTTO STORIES
Elsewhere in the country, The Sun has exclusively reported on a map that reveals unclaimed UK lottery prizes.
A surprising number of winners never cash in their ticket – which means millions of pounds go unclaimed every year.
There are currently nine lottery prizes up for grabs, which are worth a combined £9,064,694.
One lorry driver even quit his job just minutes after he found out he had won £330,000 in a lottery draw last February.
And another young man like James has revealed how winning the lottery changed his life, and not necessarily for the better.
Jayden Clark, who is originally from Australia, revealed their life was relatively normal before winning, he grew up with two siblings and his mum and dad, who lived paycheck to paycheck.
“We had a home that I remember like at this stage, my parents were like fighting to keep and very much paycheck to paycheck lifestyle,” he said.
But his dad had been using the same lottery numbers for five years, and overnight they became multi-millionaires.
He said his parents became paranoid and were fearful the children would be kidnapped as a ransom for their lotto winnings.
The kids took two weeks off school after the win while their parents figured out how to live their new lives.
While the money was an obvious bonus, Jayden said it made the family feel like they were living a double life and didn’t fit in anywhere.
Curse of lotto winners
Despite hitting the jackpot, countless UK lotto winners have suffered astonishing tragedies and lost their fortunes.
Callie Rogers
Callie became Britain’s youngest lottery winner when she won £1.9million in 2003.
The 16-year-old from Cumbria gave up her £3.60-an-hour checkout job and went on a spending spree, purchasing a £180,000 bungalow and a £76,000 home for her mum.
But she ultimately blew thousands on wild parties, three boob jobs and drugs, plus around £300,000 on designer clothes.
Eighteen years after her win, Callie was found to be claiming Universal Credit after blowing her fortune.
Michael Carrol
The self-styled ‘King of Chavs’ was 19 when he scooped £9,736,131 on the National Lottery in November 2002.
The part-time binman, who was wearing an electronic tag when he bought his winning ticket, immediately bought a £340,000 six-bedroom home in Norfolk.
He spent a further £400,000 on lavish home upgrades and dropped £49,000 on a BMW to park in his drive. He most notably invested £1million in Rangers FC shares.
Michael’s wife, Sandra, left him over his incessant party boy lifestyle and took £1.4million from the divorce settlement. By 2010, he had declared bankruptcy.
Roger Griffiths
Griffiths and his wife Lara netted £1.8million on the National Lottery in 2005.
Quitting their day jobs, the couple enjoyed expensive holidays and luxury motors and also splashed £800,000 on a barn conversion in Wetherby, West Yorks.
After wannabe rock star Roger spent £25,000 making a music record, the couple divested into safer assets but the global financial crisis hit and rendered them worthless.
In 2010, their uninsured home tragically went up in flames – and all their funds dried up three years later.
Lee Ryan
Ex-jailbird Ryan scooped the £6.5million jackpot just 17 weeks after the lottery was launched in 1994.
It later emerged he was accused of handling stolen cars and was imprisoned for 18 months after his huge payout.
Once released he spent a decade enjoying his riches, even buying a helicopter and a £2million mansion but ultimately ended up penniless.
Lee was dealt his final blow when he took an ill-fated trip to Kyrgyzstan and invested the last of his winnings in property, which failed due to an economic crisis.
Gillian and Adrian Bayford
The loving couple’s lives changed overnight in 2012 when they scooped a staggering £148million.
But just 15 months after the win, their eight-year marriage ended with both parties partly blaming stress on their mind-boggling win.
Adrian shacked up with ex-horse groomer Samantha Burbidge, who ended up bolting with his money, 30 horses, a horse box, and a car he gifted her.
Gillian was convicted of attacking her ex-lover Gavin Innes. She then moved on and started dating fraudster Brian Deans, who ended up in jail, and last made the headlines in 2021 for claiming nearly £40,000 in furlough cash.
Margaret Loughrey
Margaret scooped £27million in 2013 and became Northern Ireland’s biggest winner at the time.
However, the 48-year-old later admitted the huge fortune didn’t bring her any happiness.
She told local media: “Money has brought me nothing but grief. It has destroyed my life.”
Tragically, in September last year, Margaret, by now in her 50s, was found dead in her home.
Martyn and Kay Tott
The Totts got the shock of their lives when they realised they’d won £3million back in 2001 – six months after buying the ticket.
By the time they saw an appeal for the winner to come forward, they couldn’t find the ticket.
Computer records in their local Londis proved Kay really had purchased the ticket.
But a little-known rule stipulating that lost tickets must be reported within 30 days meant they would never receive the cash – eventually putting too much strain on their marriage and causing it to break down.