Lovely jubbly — mechanic Trotter scoops £107m EuroMillions win

A car mechanic who went from oily rags to riches after scooping the £107.9m (€128.8m) EuroMillions jackpot plans to buy a fleet of supercars with his new-found fortune.

Lovely jubbly — mechanic Trotter scoops £107m EuroMillions win

Neil Trotter, from Coulsdon, south London, plans to upgrade his oil- stained Ford Focus with some flashier motors, including a McLaren.

But first on the shopping list is a new house, with ample garage space.

The 41-year-old hot rod racer, who runs a repair garage in Mitcham, south London, called Chameleon Coachworks, became The British National Lottery’s fourth biggest winner on Friday.

The self-confessed motor racing fanatic now plans to hang up his car mechanic overalls and follow his passion for British touring car racing.

Mr Trotter anticipates that some people might joke about his surname and him becoming a millionaire.

“Me and my dad thought we’d heard all the Only Fools And Horses jokes but I can see this is going to run and run,” he said.

“Still, being Trotters, we were always going to be millionaires one day.”

Mr Trotter was so confident he would win a prize that he told staff at his father’s office last Friday lunchtime that “this time tomorrow” he would be a multimillionaire.

He learnt he was the single ticket-holder to scoop the massive jackpot on Friday evening at around 10.30pm.

He said: “I took out my ticket to check the winning numbers and amazingly one by one they matched. I told Nicky, my partner, ’I’ve done it, I’ve won the lottery’. But she told me to shut up and to stop being an idiot.

“Apparently I turned white as a sheet and couldn’t sit still, I kept walking round the house — I didn’t know what to do with myself. I got her to check the numbers with me and she started screaming.

“Next we called my dad but he said I was being an idiot too and that I should stop drinking. But I hadn’t had a drop.

“Even when we jumped in the car and drove round, it took him a while to realise we were serious. My dad’s not often lost for words but he was on Friday night.”

Mr Trotter and Nicky Ottaway, 33, his partner of eight years, finally headed for bed at around 3am but had a restless night before calling Camelot first thing on Saturday.

They have already made plans to spend some of their fortune on cars, a new home and a holiday abroad — as soon as Mr Trotter has renewed his passport.

The couple told a press conference in Dorking, Surrey, they celebrated on Friday night with two bottles of Budweiser beer.

Since confirming the win, the couple have already been to view some flash vehicles.

“We’ve been out and looked at a few cars,” Mr Trotter said.

“But people give you the look like you haven’t got enough money to buy them.”

Ms Ottaway said she had had a similar experience when looking at a new handbag.

She said: “I asked the sales guy how much it was and he said ‘£1,100’ but had already turned his back and was walking away from us. We just thought ‘Fine, we won’t buy it then’.”

She said she had resigned from her job first thing.

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