Pensioner 'told lottery staff to dump winning ticket'

Lottery counter staff in Japan claim a customer told them to throw away a winning ticket worth £277,000.

The 66-year-old brought 100 tickets into the shop in Chiba for checking and was given a note saying one was worth 50m yen.

Unfortunately he did not read the note until the next day. He returned to the shop, but staff had thrown away the tickets. He is considering legal action.

The manager told the pensioner: "We returned them to you with the statement, after they were checked by the computer. We told you that you had won a large amount of money, but you asked us to dump the tickets, so we did."

The manager added: "There's nothing we can do at this stage. He should have kept the winning ticket."

The pensioner said: "I'm not convinced that the manager is telling the truth. I want the matter settled in court."