I was unemployed when I won £45.5million EuroMillions jackpot after making a silly mistake the Tesco checkout

A LUCKY punter who scooped £45.5million in the lotto has revealed how a silly mistake at a Tesco checkout saw him go from rags to riches.

Les Scadding from south Wales was the UK's biggest ever lottery winner after taking home half of the EuroMillions jackpot more than a decade ago.

The other half was won by a syndicate of IT workers in Liverpool.

At the time, 58-year-old truck driver Les was unemployed and took a chance on the lottery to turn his life around.

In 2009, he told the Guardian: "My daughter lives in Abu Dhabi and every week after the draw she would come on Skype and say 'have you won yet' and I would say 'next week'."

However, the man admitted when he went to purchase the winning ticket he forgot his lucky numbers.

Unable to recount the figures, Les went for a random Lucky Dip - a decision that would pay off in spades.

He said: "When I asked the people behind the counter to check the numbers, the machine just printed out a pink slip, telling me to contact Camelot.

"I thought I might have won around £50,000, and I rushed home to tell Samantha.

"When we realised I had all seven, we nearly dropped the laptop."

Camelot later confirmed their dreams had come true.

The married couple were later photographed looking absolutely chuffed as they collected their giant cheque for £45,570,835.

His wife, Samantha, claimed they both struggled to sleep in the days after winning.

However, she said she was most excited about reducing her work hours after years of slugging it out to keep the family afloat.

She said: "You can look after me now Les."

Another woman has told how she bought a winning lottery ticket by "fluke" after deciding to "kill some time at the store" while taking her dog to the vet.