A couple from the Midlands have discovered they are Euromillions winners entirely by chance.
They found the €500,000 ticket among rubbish in the car.
The farming couple drove for seven weeks, oblivious to the fact they had winning ticket in their door pocket.
The ticket turned up as the woman searched for loose change for a parking meter.
She said:"I was desperately looking for coins to fill the meter when I spotted four Lottery tickets stuffed with rubbish in the side pocket of the driver's door.
"I thought I better bring them into the shop to get them scanned, just in case.
"I could not believe my luck when I was told to ring the National Lottery office that I had won a significant amount!".
They purchased the Quick Pick ticket from the Gandon Service Station in Emo, Portlaoise for the April 18th draw.
"We play EuroMillions and Lotto fairly regularly but we are terrible for forgetting about the tickets and not checking the numbers.
"We usually let them accumulate before getting them checked together.
"It I wasn't hunting for loose change in the car we might have forgotten about these tickets and it might have been too late to claim," she added.
The lucky couple, who did not want to go public, plan to use their winnings to pay off some of their mortgage.
They will also put money aside for their young children's education.
"We weren't going to take a holiday this year because of the cost, but we ended up booking a sun break in March as the weather was so bad. So it will be a special one for us. We will be able to splash out a bit".
A National Lottery spokesperson has advised players to always put their tickets aside safely, and to check the numbers after each game.
"We appeal to players to always check their numbers. They have 90 days to claim after a draw. We don't want people to lose out", the spokesperson said.
While they also appealed to players to check if they are the holders of another unclaimed EuroMillions €500,000 winning ticket, from April 25th.
This ticket was purchased in the Applegreen Service Station on the Dublin Road in Cavan.
The winning numbers are 5, 8, 35, 41 and 47.
