Ten bus drivers and their company secretary are celebrating today after winning £1million on the lottery.
The syndicate, Plan B, who all work for Stagecoach, will each bank £100,000 after their ticket matched the EuroMillions UK Millionaire Maker code on April 16.
And they revealed today that although they have big ideas for how to spend their winnings, none of them plan to retire as they love their jobs at the depot.
The drivers, whose ages range from 30 to 65, are all based in Carlisle and include: Kenneth Devlin, Sherry Haughin, Kevin Davidson, David Taylor, Darren Robson, Philip Dunn, Les Kirkaldy, Scott Janczuk, John Nunn and company secretary Susan Kilgour.
Among the items on their shopping lists are new cars, paying off mortgages, treating the family and splashing out on camper vans for a summer staycation.
Kevin, 50, said, “This is a life-changing sum of money for every single one of us and we all have different plans.
“Some of the syndicate initially thought they may retire – but then decided against it. We all love our jobs – some of us were even back in work the day we found out we had won.
"None of us would dream of cancelling our shifts – we think too much of our customers to do that and would never want to let anyone down.”
First on the agenda for the dad-of-three is treating his family as well as simply “enjoying life," he said.
Kevin, who has been a bus driver for 16 years, added: “This money will significantly change my life and just enable me to live more comfortably.
“It takes any financial worries away.”
Since starting eight years ago, the Plan B syndicate has pocketed lots of smaller wins which they generally save up for each Christmas.
David, 50, the team leader, always buys the ticket online and chooses a Lucky Dip line.
He said: “This way, if I ever forgot to buy a ticket I know we would be safe!”
This morning Kevin noticed he had three missed calls from David who broke the incredible news in a phone call.
“We have a group chat and my phone just started to ping and I noticed I also had three missed calls," Kevin said.
“I called David back and he just said, Kevin I need you to check our ticket I think we may have won and won big.
“He sent me a photograph of the ticket to my phone and I was actually quite calm at this point and checked the ticket carefully. When I realised we had won I couldn’t quite believe it.
“We then let everyone know on the group chat and I don’t think the phone stopped pinging all day. Everyone was just totally shocked that something as amazing as this had happened to us.”
Their winning EuroMillions £1M UK Millionaire Maker code was: HVWX68256.
And Kevin says the syndicate has no plans to stop now - the team already has their ticket bought for this Friday’s EuroMillions draw.
