Thursday 25 August 2016

How he win £1million on a £5 lottery.

A road worker who celebrated winning £1million on a £5 lottery by doing cartwheels down the street in his high-visibility jacket returned to work the following morning for a 12 hour shift.


Carl Crook, 25, was seen celebrating wildly in Manchester city centre after the life-changing win but has vowed to keep on working - so long as he no longer does overtime.   
He has promised not to 'blow' the money but wants to spend his winnings on an Audi RS7, a Safari in Africa for his honeymoon with fiancee Samantha and a family holiday to Florida.
'The £1 million might go but we want to at least spend it on making memories instead of on rubbish', he said.  
Last Thursday, Mr Crook popped into a newsagents while working on a job in Manchester city centre to buy a drink and a £5 scratchcard.   
The road worker had purchased a scratchcard earlier in the day with a friend and the pair had promised to go halves if either got lucky. 
After that proved fruitless, he decided to go back and have another shot.  
Mr Crook, from Rochdale, said: 'It's only once in a blue moon that I buy a scratchcard but I had a feeling that day and decided to have one more go.
'I asked the shopkeeper for a £10 scratchcard but he said he didn't have any and only had the £5 ones. I was scratching the numbers off and knew I had at least won my money back or got a tenner.
'I then revealed the last number slowly and saw it said £1 and the letter 'm'. I showed it to the two lads I was working with and kept saying "check that, check that".

'I then went back into the shop and said "I've won a million, I've won a million". 
'The shopkeeper smiled and said "I can't pay that" and told me to contact the number on the back.
'I was shaking like mad and I was put on hold for what felt like years. The lady finally told me "I would like to congratulate you. You have won £1 million".
'I had my phone on speaker and all my workmates were around me. I just screamed "yes" at the top of my voice. I had so much joy and excitement, I was crying.' 
He was then spotted by passers-by 'doing forward and back flips' along Oxford Road in Manchester, telling everyone about his lucky scratchcard.  
Mr Crook, who has an eight-year-old son and six-month-old daughter with fiance Samantha Dyson, said they are determined not to 'blow' their winnings.
Mr Crook's winning scratchcard that he purchased during a lunch break.

Mr Crook (left) and his winning scratchcard (right) that he purchased during his lunch break in Manchester
The 25-year-old, who works for Kenny Bros civil engineering firm, added: 'I called Samantha and tried to tell her what happened but kept breaking down. She didn't believe me and I had to send her a picture of the scratchcard to prove it.'
He said he was unable to work for the rest of the day and his colleagues had to stay 90 minutes later to pick up his workload.
But he then returned to work at 6.30am on Friday for a 12-hour slog.  
He said: 'I just kept thinking to myself "why am I here?" But I do enjoy my job, the company I work for and the people I work with.
'I've already spoken to my boss about having next week off so I can let things settle down. I will be staying on at work but without overtime.
'A lot of people have been congratulating us. Friends I've known for a long time kept saying they couldn't believe it and I was a jammy sod and just having a joke and a laugh.
'I think it's the way we have won the money as well. No one would ever believe you could win that amount on a £5 scratchcard. How rare do you see it?'
I'll keep working: Man who won £1million on scratch card

Mr Crook, who has an eight-year-old son and six-month-old daughter with fiance Samantha Dyson, said they are determined not to 'blow' their winnings. 
He said: 'It's not about us retiring now. It's about us being able to live comfortably without the pressure of life weighing down on us.
'Our kids will have their inheritance sorted and we won't need to have a 30-year mortgage.
'I'm a boy and I like my toys and cars and I'm looking at getting a really nice car. I've always wanted an Audi RS7. 
I genuinely don't know if I will get that or something else. But there's going to be no rush.
'When we told our son he was saying "we are millionaires". He loves supercars and wants to go out in a Ferrari.
'We are going to go on holiday this summer and to Lapland at Christmas. I would love to take the family to Florida and we might do that next year.
'Myself and Samantha got engaged last year and we want to get married this year and then go on a Safari tour in Africa for our honeymoon.'  
Miss Dyson, 26, who works as a child minding assistant, said the money is 'life changing' for their family.
She said: 'He rang me to tell me what happened but I didn't believe he.
'When I saw on Facebook that people were saying he did backflips and cartwheels I couldn't believe that, I knew it wasn't something he could do!'
'The whole thing doesn't feel real. It's one of those things that you see happening to other people but never think will happen to you.'


Wednesday 24 August 2016

Smoke billows after an air strike on Jarablus, Syria, 24 August, 2016


Syria Jarablus: Turkish tanks roll into northern Syria, Smoke rises over Jarablus, Syria, 24 August, 2016 Image copyrightAFP Image caption A dozen Turkish tanks have rolled across the Syrian border after heavy Turkish shelling of an area held by so-called Islamic State (IS). Military sources told Turkish media 70 targets in the Jarablus area had been destroyed by artillery and rocket strikes, and 12 by air strikes. Turkish special forces entered Syria earlier as part of the offensive. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the operation was aimed against both IS and Kurdish fighters. Turkey shelled Syrian Kurdish forces in the region this week, determined not to let them fill the vacuum if IS leaves, the BBC's Mark Lowen reports from Gaziantep, near the Syrian border. The concern in Ankara is that the Kurds could create an autonomous area close to the border which might foster Kurdish separatism within Turkey itself, our correspondent says. In another development, counter-terror police in Turkey's main city, Istanbul, launched dawn raids targeting IS suspects across the city. US Vice-President Joe Biden arrived in Turkey on Wednesday in the highest-ranking visit by a Western official since the failed coup on 15 July. Bomb survivor haunted by attacks Turkey v Syria's Kurds v Islamic State How dangerous is the instability in Turkey? Islamic State: the full story Map showing control of northern Syria Twin attack The tanks were followed by pick-up trucks believed to be carrying Turkish-backed Syrian rebels from the Free Syrian Army. "At 04:00 [01:00 GMT] our forces began an operation against the Daesh [IS] and PYD [Kurdish Democratic Union Party] terror groups," President Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara. The offensive is aimed at "putting an end" to problems on the border, he said. A Turkish tank heads towards the Syrian border, 24 AugustImage copyrightAFP Image caption At least a dozen tanks were involved A Turkish tank near the Syrian border, 24 AugustImage copyrightEPA Free Syrian Army fighters in pick-up trucks follow Turkish tanks into Syria, 24 AugustImage copyrightEPA Image caption Fighters said to be from the Free Syrian Army followed the tanks in pick-up trucks A coach said to be carrying Syrian rebels stands in Karkamis, near Turkey's Syrian border, 24 AugustImage copyrightEPA Image caption A coach said to be carrying Syrian rebels was spotted by reporters in Karkamis The Turkish town of Karkamis - just across the border from Jarablus - was evacuated as a precaution following earlier IS mortar attacks. Turkey has vowed to "completely cleanse" IS from its border region, blaming the group for a bomb attack on a wedding that killed at least 54 people in Gaziantep on Saturday. This is Turkey's first known ground incursion into Syria since a brief operation to relocate the tomb of Suleyman Shah, a revered Ottoman figure, in February of last year. The air strikes are Turkey's first inside Syria since the downing of a Russian jet in November. Moscow and Ankara only mended ties in June after punitive Russian sanctions. 'A buffer against the Kurds' An unnamed senior US official in Washington told BBC News before the start of the Turkish operation that it was "partly to create a buffer against the possibility of the Kurds moving forward". "We are working with them on that potential operation: our advisers are communicating with them on the Jarablus plan. "We'll give close air support if there's an operation." A Turkish military warning sign, with the closed Karkamis border gate in the backgroundImage copyrightREUTERS Image caption Karakamis - which borders Jarablus - has been evacuated Fighters from the Syrian Kurd YPG militia - the military wing of the PYD - led the battle to drive IS out of the strategic crossroads town of Manbij earlier this month. Turkey views the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a Turkish-Kurdish rebel group fighting for autonomy since the 1980s, but the YPG is backed by the US as one of the most effective forces battling IS. On Tuesday the YPG took control of most of the north-eastern Syrian city of Hassakeh. A truce was reportedly brokered there by Russia after recent clashes between the Kurds and Syrian government forces. President Erdogan said he would press Vice-President Biden for the extradition of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom he blames for the coup attempt.

Turkish arrest warrant for Gulen Turkish media round on Biden Several pro-government papers accuse Washington of dragging its heels after Turkey's call for the extradition of US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen. "Gulen's protector" says a headline in Aksam, which notes his "late" visit in the wake of last month's coup attempt. Gunes newspaper says pointedly that "the Turkish government and 79 million Turks are waiting for concrete steps" from him, adding that "Biden will be... asked to behave like an ally". The pro-government Star agrees that Mr Biden will have to explain US support for the "Fetullah Gulen Terrorist Organisation" (FETO). Karar says the visit will open a new chapter in bilateral ties but says Washington must show its support for Turkey. Pro-government daily Milliyet publishes a column by Mr Biden himself where he praises Turks for thwarting the coup attempt. He also says that claims that Gulen's extradition is simply a political matter are "damaging" for bilateral ties. BBC Europe