I won the £333,000 jackpot in the People's Postcode Lottery… I quit my job within minutes

A truck driver quit his job within minutes after realizing he had won a mouthwatering Lotto jackpot.

Truck driver Tony Hedley was in the middle of a shift when his wife Christine called him with good news.

Shortly after the video call, Tony called his boss and told him it would be his last shiftCredit: PA

Tony, 68, from Newcastle, had worked as a truck driver for more than four decades and while he was on a shift – which would be his last – his wife Christine called him on video.

After they stopped, Christine, 65, told him they had won two prizes of £166,666, making a total of £333,000, prompting Tony to give his boss a call.

A few minutes later he was on the phone with his gaffer, confirming he would be throwing his career away and taking some much-needed rest after years on the road.

Tony said: “It was just surreal, it was like the weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

“When I finished calling the Postcode Lottery, I called work and said: 'If I come back, I won't come tomorrow and this is my last shift.'

“I went back to base, dropped off the trailer and my manager said, 'you lucky bastard,' shook my hand and wished me all the best.”

His wife Christine, a teaching assistant, was the lucky one of the couple who answered the life-changing door knock – and couldn't help but burst into tears, knowing their lives had just changed forever.

She added: “When I took the card out I couldn't believe it, I just cried.

'I never thought it would be this big.

“It's still unbelievable, I wake up in the morning and think, 'did I dream that?'”

I see lottery tickets being bought every day. I would recommend the same scratch card every time, there is 'little risk'

Now the senior couple – grandparents of four – have a list of money-spinning plans to mark the occasion.

PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE

First on their list are some home improvements, but they also plan to make sure their two children, grandchildren and great-grandchild on the way are well taken care of.

Christine added: “We're not the spending type and we don't ask for much from life.

“I think the first thing is to make sure the kids are okay and find someone to do the garden and the bathroom and renovate the house a bit.

“And then we'll think about it afterwards and take it easy.

“It's wonderful to know that we can now just relax and live for ourselves.”

But a big cash win always calls for a vacation — and the Hedleys are already penciling in a well-deserved family getaway to Pitlochry, Scotland, in August.

Tony said, “Things like this don't happen to people like us.”

And Christine quickly clapped back, adding: “Well, they do now.”

Big money winners are popping up all over the country – and every year we watch as Brits open life-changing envelopes by playing the Postcode Lottery and depositing thousands of pounds into their bank accounts.

But not everyone is as lucky as the Hedleys, and some mistakenly think they have won, only to realize that things were not as they seemed the next day.

Heartbroken dad Nathan thought he had won a £50,000 Lotto jackpot, only to find out a day later he had won much less.

And supermarket worker Dean Smethurst, 32, boasted about the huge win to friends and family before he learned the truth.

While one TikToker thought she had won a whopping £1million, until she realized she had won less than £1.