Cabbie who won on National Lottery six weeks ago ‘yet to receive a penny’

A cabbie who won the lottery six weeks ago claims he still hasn’t been paid his winnings. Taxi driver Ray Laird scooped £800 after buying a ticket at a One Stop on March 2.

The 69-year-old says the sum would help him to pay his mortgage for two months whilst he struggles with bills – but he’s yet to receive it. Ray has been playing the National Lottery since 1994, and says he has made multiple attempts to contact lottery officials asking for his winnings, but each time he’s left on hold.

“I’m 69 so can’t do the online stuff but I got my daughter to register the ticket for me,” he told ECHO. “She did everything they asked and sent the tickets off. It was £800 I won.

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“I phoned last week to enquire when I’m getting this money. Someone on the phone said to me ‘well if you played online you wouldn’t have this trouble’. I thought this is disgusting. I have bought tickets from 1994 why should I change now?.

“She said to me I would receive the cheque by Friday last week, if not the latest Monday so I never received it Monday and called them again on Tuesday. I was on the phone for an hour and 10 minutes and still never got through. I called again on Wednesday and was on the phone for two hours and 55 minutes.

“I’ve been on the phone to them again for another hour, this isn’t right. I have been phoning for three days, is the backlog that bad.”

Ray expressed his frustration over the cost of living crisis and how the £800 win would have eased his financial stress. He said: “£800 would have paid my mortgage this month. I’m a taxi driver, I’m struggling as it is.

“I’m 69 and still working so I can pay my mortgage. Times are tough at the moment, they are tough for everyone and I’m being crucified off the taxman for working and getting my pension, but I have to work. You can’t win. Everyone is struggling so as soon as you get extra cash it is a relief of stress on your bills, we all need that relief.”

He shared a poignant story about a recent passenger, saying: “It was just last week that I took a woman home from the hospital who was 93 and she asked me if £15 would be enough for the fare. I said ‘it is today love’ and I only charged her £10… she said I’m getting my money tomorrow I will give you it and I told her ‘I don’t need it’. That woman had worked all her life in the hospital and now she is worrying about getting home, this is what we are living in today. Then today I’m paying for a job to get done on my car which is another expense. It’s overly frustrating.”

A representative for Allwyn, the Lottery operator, explained the new claims process: “This is a new claims process following the Post Office’s decision to no longer pay National Lottery retail prizes between £500.01 and £50,000. The time the process takes will vary depending on whether we need any further information from the player in order to process their claim and how long it takes for us to receive the ticket or Scratchcard from the player.

“As people are still unfamiliar with the new process, we’re also experiencing a high volume of players contacting us and have increased the number of colleagues to assist players with their claims which is helping them get their prizes more quickly. We’re very sorry to hear of Mr Laird’s concerns, and have been in touch with him to discuss these and provide him with an update. We’d like to reassure anyone affected that they will receive their prize.”

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