Bus drivers take home £3m each from share of £38m lottery win, and fail to turn up for work

This article is more than 8 years old

This article is more than 8 years old

Northamptonshire residents irked by any disruption to their bus journeys over the weekend can blame a lottery ticket, a dozen Stagecoach drivers and a £38m jackpot.

After learning that they had the winning EuroMillions ticket late on Friday night, some of the 12 bus drivers from the Corby depot gathered to celebrate pocketing more than £3m each.

Fortunately, they had the sense to ring their boss and explain why they wouldn't be coming to work on Saturday.

"We knew that seven of us were meant to clock in the next day to drive the buses, but we knew there was no way," said one of the winners, Ally Spencer.

"I suppose there are 12 jobs going at the depot."

Spencer, 57, told the Sun that his days behind the wheel of a bus were over.

"I'll never work again," he said. "This would have been my 20th year and I have loved it. But I won't be stepping on a bus again now."

Spencer and his wife, Yvonne, plan to move out of their two-bedroom flat into a bungalow in Corby, go on a family holiday to Jamaica and buy a climbing frame for their grandchildren.

Another winner, John Noakes, 49, told the Daily Mail that the depot would need to start recruiting more drivers.

"My feeling would be that will be the end of our days behind the wheel of a bus now," he said. "Speaking for myself, I know I will not be returning and there are others in the same boat."

Noakes said he would buy his wife, Jean, "whatever she wanted", and would swap his Nissan Primera for an Aston Martin.

A third winner, Charles Connor, 40, reportedly plans to shell out on a new car, join a golf club and go back to school to improve his maths and learn a new language.

John Drew, local manager at the Stagecoach depot in Corby, said he was busy "sorting out the gaps" on Monday morning, but added that it was a "happy issue" to deal with.

He refused to comment on how the win had affected the depot or whether bus services had been hit.

He also declined to say whether any of the winners had handed in their notice.

But Drew said he was happy for them.

"The 12 guys in question who won, well, I'm over the moon and ecstatic for each and every one of them and wish them luck with their good fortune," he said.

A Camelot spokesman said there had been a valid claim, but could not pay out until the banks opened on Monday.