I won the lotto, but had almost nothing left – I had to fight for the win

A PUNTER who won a Lotto jackpot was left with almost nothing and said he thought he had done something wrong.

Graham Crerar, 64, from Notting Hill, west London, has been chasing the £800 prize for five weeks.

Graham Crerar spent five weeks chasing his £800 prize for completing three issues on February 7Credit: Simon Jones

The carpenter had three numbers in the National Lottery draw on February 7.

He is one of a number of players who have struggled to claim winnings from new Lotto operator Allwyn.

Graham told The Sun: “They’re just digging in their heels and it makes me feel like I’ve done something wrong.

‘They don’t know what they are doing and behave very unprofessionally.

“Never mind, Allwyn, they should be called No-win.”

Another winner also spent weeks chasing his £800 prize of a HotPicks ticket.

Paul Simpson, 69, was eventually sent a check, but it bounced at the bank.

TSB told him: “This check has not been cleared due to suspected fraud/counterfeit checks within the clearing cycle.”

Mr Simpson and his wife Pam, 71, had three numbers in the January 31 draw

The former government employee tried to file a claim at a post office but was told to contact Allwyn.

I only get half of my £200,000 National Postcode Lottery jackpot because of my neighbor’s stupid blunder

After hours of calling and emailing, he was sent the dodgy check and advised to request a new one or a bank transfer.

Ultimately, after threatening a small claims lawsuit, he was paid – over a month after his victory.

Mr Simpson, from Leicester, said: ‘I felt like a criminal. But their procedures are chaotic and feel like a scam.

“I will never play that game again. When you win, it’s like they want to exhaust you, so you just give up or you’ll lose your ticket.

Peter Wilson, 70, is also waiting for an £800 prize payout, six weeks after his grades were announced.

The retired sales manager, married to Yvonne, 68, and from Nuneaton, Warks, said: “I don’t know what else I can do to claim my prize. I will not do it again. I can’t worry about the stress.

“It’s chaotic and I’m concerned about the impact this will have on local communities and charities losing out on funding.”

We told last week how Amelia Barnham, 69, from Hammersmith, west London, had an investigator sent to her home by Allwyn because she had won several times in the past.

Allwyn replaced Camelot as National Lottery operator on February 1.

The payout rules have been changed so that prizes between £500 and £50,000 can no longer be collected from post offices.

Sources said this had led to early “teething problems”.

Allwyn said: “This is a brand new claims process following the Post Office’s decision to no longer pay out National Lottery retail prizes between £500.01 and £50,000.

“The time the process takes will vary depending on whether we require further information from the player to process their claim and how long it takes for us to receive the player’s ticket or scratch card.

“Because people are still not familiar with the new process, we also notice that a large number of players are contacting us.

“We are very sorry for any delays this may cause and we have increased the number of colleagues helping players with their claims, allowing them to receive their prizes more quickly.”

Allwyn has contacted Mr Crerar and Mr Wilson to notify them.