Redcar Euromillions winner starts 2025 with a bang
Last updated 1st May 2025
A lucky Redcar man's New Year’s Eve celebrations were certainly memorable - 10 minutes before waving goodbye to 2024 and hello to 2025, he discovered he’d scooped an incredible National Lottery windfall of £1,000,000.
Andy Hornsby (56), who has worked for the NHS for more than 10 years, had a ‘funny feeling’ about the EuroMillions draw on 31 December, so much so that he went to his local Asda and bought two tickets. He was proved right when, minutes before Big Ben struck and with his partner out of the room, he quickly checked the tickets to find out he was a millionaire.
Andy said, “I’ll admit I’ve had some memorable New Year’s Eves, but nothing comes close to this! I was just about to do another round of drinks for the midnight cheers when I, slightly bizarrely, decided to check my tickets online.
“I thought the EuroMillions Millionaire Maker code matched but, as I didn’t have my glasses on, I couldn’t be sure so handed the ticket to my stepdaughter to check as she was stood beside me. She scanned the ticket on her National Lottery app and as a £1,000,000 win popped up we both just started laughing.
“My partner thought she’d missed midnight when she walked into the lounge to hear us all cheering, but instead of saying ‘Happy New Year’, I said, ‘I think we’re millionaires’ to which she replied, ‘don’t be so stupid’!
“The rest of the evening is a blur, I don’t think we even wished anyone a Happy New Year, as we just checked and rechecked the ticket. It was so surreal we couldn’t help but laugh as the news slowly settled in. My partner’s biggest concern was that I’d spend it all in B&M!”
As soon as the National Lottery Line opened on New Year’s Day, Andy was on the phone to Allwyn checking his win but, even when it was confirmed he was Yorkshire’s newest millionaire, it still didn’t sink in.
Andy said, “It’s funny, although I knew it’s possible to win, and always hoped I would, I just couldn’t take in that I’d spent £2.50 on a Lucky Dip ticket in my local Asda and in return, I was now a millionaire!
“I work with a great group of people, we share the highs and lows of life, so as soon as the win was confirmed I sent them a screengrab of the win with a message, ‘Happy New Year, I’ve won The National Lottery’. Going in for my shift the next day there were plenty of congratulations and a fair bit of banter too, that helped it to feel real!”
Andy, who ‘hardly ever plays EuroMillions’, is still chuckling that his ‘funny feeling’ the day before New Year's Eve was so strong that he went to Asda just to buy the tickets. He said, “Normally I wouldn’t spend £5 on tickets but I just followed some gut instinct, bought two tickets and, when I got home, put them both under the lucky shamrock stone we keep on the mantlepiece. I think we can all agree that Lady Luck was smiling on me that day, and that our lucky stone is definitely lucky!”
Andy and his partner of six years, Mandy, are wasting no time planning their future. After renting for many years, the pair, who got engaged last year, have already found and had an offer accepted on their forever home, a bungalow in their favourite North Yorkshire town.
Andy said, “We’re getting married in May, it will be amazing to start our married life mortgage free, in our forever home and in our dream location. And for the moments when we want to change location, I’ve bought a VW Campervan to explore more of the UK. I can’t wait to pack up the camper on a Friday night, with our beloved dog, Bella, on board, and hit the open road for the weekend.
“I’m also going to help my stepdaughter onto the property ladder, in fact the offer on her new home has just been accepted so the race is on to see who is in first! She was there when the win was discovered and it’s brilliant to be in the position to help her to start her adult life with this extra step up.”
Looking ahead, Andy thoroughly enjoys his job as a specialist medical delivery driver in the community and will continue in that role, while his fiancée, who worked shifts, has already handed in her notice so the pair have more flexibility for those weekends away, and longer holidays.
Andy explained, “I enjoy what I do, I’ve worked all my life so see no need to stop at present. But not being tied by Mandy’s shifts will give us so much more freedom, and time to enjoy our new home together.
“Alongside the campervan adventures, we’re planning to do lots more cruising. We’ve enjoyed trips around the Caribbean and Mediterranean, in fact it was on our Italian cruise that I surprised Mandy with an engagement ring at the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Perhaps we’ll go back again on our first wedding anniversary, or maybe further afield, it’s crazy to think, the world is literally our oyster!”
Andy bought his EuroMillions ticket for the draw on 31 December 2024 at his local Asda on Pheasant Fields Lane (Saltburn-by-the-Sea, TS12 2ZL).
He won the EuroMillions UK Millionaire Maker £1,000,000 prize when he matched the winning code XFQV66808. EuroMillions UK Millionaire Maker guarantees to create a millionaire in every draw. For every EuroMillions line played, UK players automatically receive a EuroMillions Millionaire Maker code printed on their ticket.
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