Mum's 30-day nightmare as £12m 'winning lottery ticket' is binned by shopkeeper

A mum is adamant she has won £12million on the Lotto — but faces an anxious 30-day wait to find out for sure after a shopkeeper threw her ticket in the bin. Kath Main, 46, read online that the June 6 jackpot was unclaimed, and when she looked at the the winning numbers she was shocked to discover they matched hers. For 20 years she has selected the same numbers so instantly knew it matched hers. Her mum, Fiona, took the ticket to be checked at a Londis in Abercynon, South Wales , where she claims she was told by staff it was not a winning ticket and agreed for the shopkeeper the bin the ticket. Mum-of-two Kath told The Sun: “I just feel sick all the time, it’s the not knowing and waiting. I saw there was an unclaimed lottery ticket and checked the numbers and realised they were mine. I rang my mother and said, ‘You did put the lottery on?’ and she said ‘Yeah’. “I said, ‘Well we’ve won the lottery,’ and she said, ‘I checked and there was no winners’. I said ‘No, it’s a winner, we’ve won’. She said ‘How much?’ and I said, ‘£12million’. She said ‘It can’t be, the ticket’s in the bin’.” By the time Kath had realised she was the winner the bins had been emptied. She told Allwyn what happened, with proof of purchase and doorbell footage from a hair salon showing her mum at the time. She said: “I said to Allwyn, ‘If it didn’t beep, was it a fault on the machine?’. They said it was a possibility but it’s highly unlikely. They said it could be human error.” Owner of the Londia store Karan Kumar said: “Now they are doing an investigation. It would be amazing if she won.” It could take up to 30 days for Allwyn to decide if Kath has won. She said: “I’m the unluckiest person to win the lottery because I don’t have the money. I’m trying not to think about what I’d do with the money in case I don’t get it.” A spokesperson for National Lottery operator Allwyn said it is “the only major lottery that allows players to claim a prize if a winning ticket has been lost, stolen or destroyed”.