Carlisle trainee gas engineer, 20, wins £7.5m jackpot

A 20-year-old trainee gas engineer said he thought he was dreaming when he checked his lottery ticket to find he had won £7.5m.

James Clarkson, 20, of Carlisle, Cumbria, celebrated with family and friends at his grandparents’ house with a roast beef dinner and champagne, but went straight back to work fixing blocked drains the next day.

Mr Clarkson has already booked a luxury holiday to Cape Verde, in West Africa, and snapped up some designer items, and plans to pay off his parents’ mortgage and buy himself an Audi.

“If you drove a cold work van all day, going from job to job, you’d understand,” he said.

He added he knew many of his peers could not even afford the insurance on such a car.

“I realise how jammy that sounds,” he said.

Mr Clarkson left school during the Covid-19 pandemic and started a bricklaying apprenticeship, but a year ago he started working with his parents Stephen and Becky.

“I know people might think I’m mad to still work but I want to and, of course, there’ll be some nice holidays in between,” he said.

“I need to have a purpose in life, plus dad wouldn’t let me not work anyway.”

Mr Clarkson’s winning Lotto jackpot numbers were drawn on 4 January. He was at his girlfriend’s house when he checked his ticket early the next morning.

He said he woke up his girlfriend but she did not believe him.

“She took a sleepy glance and said ‘no, you haven’t won’, turned over and went back to sleep,” he said.

However, he went back to his parents’ house and his family called the National Lottery’s line as soon as it opened and confirmed his win.

“I think I just started laughing,” he said. “I thought, ‘this is mad!'”