Scratch Card Error Costs Pensioner £80k
For one poor pensioner an unfortunate mix up has left him £80k down. Tom Gray, 75, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer last October, thought he had won it all when he picked up a lottery scratch card and matched the jackpot symbols.
But when he tried to claim his £80k windfall, operators at Camelot told him his wining pair was due to an unforeseen printing error with the batch of tickets.
Mr Gray, who was furious with the news said:”I just think they are taking the mick. I suppose in their minds they have done a generous thing.”
He continued: “I just feel like they are putting two fingers up and saying ‘get out of that’.”
Originally hoping to split the money between his four children and eight grandchildren, one of which was getting married, but Mr Gray was instead given eight replacement tickets by Lotto chiefs as a form of compensation. Some may say when there was an £80,000 prize on the cards that that that isn’t overly generous.
Regarding this bold response, Camelot representatives have said that: “Due to an isolated fault with one of the print heads, this particular scratchcard has been printed with some of the game play data missing. We appreciate the disappointment caused as a result.”
Adding: “Faults of this nature are extremely rare. Out of a print run of almost 16 million cards, we received only one other compliant of this nature. We are currently working with the manufacturer to minimise the risk of this happening again.”
Not one to go quietly about this matter and the small apology, Mr Gray has said:”I feel cheated, the honourable thing would have been to accept the fault was theirs, not mine.”
His daughter Alison Gray, 51 said: “I think some people should be given benefit of the doubt. He was certain he had won.”
The gambling commission has since been asked to investigate this matter further. We will definitely be keen to see what the outcome of this is, however we very much doubt that the result will be Mr Gray receiving the £80,000 he thought he had originally won.
At least printing mixs-up don’t happen with online scratch cards!
