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Fruit and veg driver hopes to retire and buy racehorse after lotto win

Danielle HerbertBBC Wales
News imageAnthony Devlin Paul pictured at a racecourse alongside his two sons, they all holding glasses of champagne and smiling. Paul is bald and stands in between his two sons who both have short dark hair. They are all wearing white t-shirts with navy blue jackets. Covered racecourse stands can be seen behind them. Anthony Devlin
Paul, pictured with sons Ricky and Danny, had to get up at 3.15am every morning to go to work before hitting the jackpot

A fruit and vegetable delivery driver has retired from his early morning shifts and revealed his ambitions on the racecourse after a "life-changing" lotto win.

Paul Wynne, 58, from Deeside won £1m in the National Lottery which meant he could give his two-week notice, after playing the same two lines of numbers for eight years.

The father-of-eight said he "immediately worked out" he could take an early retirement after discovering he had won big.

He has also treated himself to a new car and is planning a bucket list holiday, while also considering buying a share of a racehorse to make going to the races "even more special".

News imageAnthony Devlin Paul is smiling at the camera at a racecourse alongside a brown race horse wearing a red coat. A woman with long blonde hair is holding the horse's reigns and smiling at Paul. There are two hedges either side of them and a white gate behind them. Anthony Devlin
Paul says he is looking forward to making a "few well-placed bets" with his winnings

Paul, who still had eight years left until he was due to retire, said: "Getting up at 3.15am and starting work at 4am is hard, especially in the winter in the ice and snow."

After finding out he had won, he told his work what had happened and said: "I'll give my two weeks notice. They said my job's there if I want it back any time, but for now I'm enjoying my retirement."

Looking to the future, Paul said he was "looking forward to heading to the races and maybe putting on a few well-placed bets".

Paul added it took him a while to work out exactly how much he had won as he originally thought it was £1,700 in winning, which he was "overjoyed about".

He then realised he had five main numbers and the bonus ball too, meaning he had won £1m.

"A few days later I was thinking maybe I will wake up and it will be Sunday morning again and it was all a dream. It's just been a rollercoaster since I found out," he said.

News imageAnthony Devlin Paul with his two sons who are holding glasses of champagne and standing either side of him smiling at the camera. Paul holds a large cut-out with the figure £1,000,000 in orange, and the National Lottery logo. They stand on the racecourse grass. Anthony Devlin
Paul's first purchase with his lotto winnings was a new car

As well as enjoying an early retirement, Paul said he was determined to help secure his children's future.

"I've never been able to help out financially the way I've wanted to with my kids," he said.

"When my son Danny got married, I wasn't able to give him as much help as I wanted, but now I can really help them out and it makes me feel so happy."

Paul's first purchase with his winnings was some much-needed new transport.

"I've bought a new car and my old car has already been scrapped," he said. "It was absolutely on his last legs, I don't think it would have kept going much longer so I can't believe how well it's worked out for me to win this money."

He is also planning a dream trip to the United States later this year, heading to New York which has always been on his bucket list.