‘I clung onto what I knew’, reveals £22million lotto winner who kept old job and still drives white Ford Transit van
A MAN who split a £22million lotto jackpot win has kept his old job and still drives a white Ford Transit van.
Mark Gardiner, from Hastings, East Sussex, shared £22,590,829 alongside his pal Paul Maddison in 1995.
The pair ran a small glazing business together called Croft Glass, which Paul soon ditched after the win, but Mark decided to carry on working.
Opting to not let his £11million go to his head, almost 30 years later the 61-year-old still has a hands-on role at the company.
He said: “My secret to staying normal and sane, to keeping my feet on the ground, is because I kept working.”
He continues to do the day-to-day running of his respected Sussex business and he also does the "measuring up, surveying and putting in orders".
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Mark drives a white Ford Transit van emblazoned with Croft Glass signage and roof racks for a ladder despite being a multi millionaire.
He said: “So I decided to invest money into the company. I wanted to see if I had the ability, the skill and the knowledge to take it further."
“It was a business but it was also a challenge. And we are what we are today.
“It was almost like a test to myself. It was like a test and I have passed.”
But, Mark has also splashed out on a Grade II listed mansion, a holiday home, and cars.
Mark spent some of his winning on a holiday home in Barbados, pumped £2m into his business and also bought his local football club in Hastings, East Sussex.
He said: “I had Croft Glass before the win so I invested £2million into it. I was 32 years old [when I won] and I thought I was too young to retire.
“If my mates say they want to play a round or they want to go to Brighton for the day, I will take the day off.
"I don't have a boss over my shoulder saying I have to sign a holiday form. And I don't worry that if I take the day off I won't be able to pay my staff's wages.
";Don’t get me wrong, if I won the lottery now at 61… oh my god I would have done so many different things.
“I would have stopped work. I’m now at the age where you think, ‘I have worked for 45 years so now I’m due a bit of time off’. But because I won it when I was 32, I was still a puppy.”
The businessman said the thought of his family never having to struggle was a comfort.
Mark said to be transferred the huge sum was "overwhelming" and he had "instant fear".
He added: "One minute I had £11 and the next minute I had £11 million and, if I’m honest, I was probably frightened.
"Nothing prepares you for it.
What happened to Paul Maddison?
Paul, originally from East Sussex, moved to Perth after winning the money.
He is understood to have died on November 28 last year, just months after his wife Evelyn died aged 62.
Locals in the nearby village of Kirtlebridge previously said they had rarely seen the pair come out of the 40-acre estate.
Paul had also installed security cameras, remote-controlled gates and an intercom immediately after moving in.
They lived a reclusive lifestyle, rarely being seen by their neighbours.
"Camelot didn’t give us an instruction book, there was no manual, we didn’t go on a course; you’re given it, bang, there you go. It’s fairly overwhelming."
When he was told he couldn't buy a weekly shop the day after his win, he made his bank pay for their mistake.
Mark said: "The Friday after my win we went food shopping and my card was refused.
"I went mad, and it was all, 'Oh, sir, I apologise'.
"But they’d had their chance, so I closed that account."
Mark lost contact with fellow winner Paul shortly after the win 28 years ago.
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He said the cheque ultimately led to the downfall of their friendship and is something to this day he never understands.
Paul, 73, died at the end of last year - in circumstances that are not known - after moving to a 40-acre estate in Scotland.