A man who scooped a huge prize on the has shared his girlfriend's hilarious reaction when he informed her of the happy news.

James Clarkson, 20, couldn't believe his eyes when he won a massive £7,533,329 Lotto jackpot on January 4. The tradesman, who works with his parents Stephen and Becky, said he bought the winning tickets after scooping £120 in the special Lotto Day draw.

He used part of his prize money to buy five more Lotto lines for the first draw of the new year - including two Lucky Dip lines and three lines of randomly selected numbers. Lottery operator said one of the randomly selected lines delivered James' life-changing prize to kick-start 2025.

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James revealed that on January 5, he was at his girlfriend's house and got up early to look at the snowfall. But the snow wasn't the only nice surprise that morning, as he also saw he received a message from the lottery, informing him that he had won a prize.

After realising that he had won, he quickly woke up his girlfriend - but she didn't seem to believe him, so she turned over and went back to sleep, James said. He then called his father, who was awake, and went home to check the win with him.

The lucky ticket holder said: "I was at my girlfriend’s house and got up early to check on the snowfall when I saw a message saying I'd won on the National Lottery app. I opened it straight away but couldn't see anything to begin with; then I scrolled down and saw I'd matched all six main Lotto numbers to hit the jackpot and that my prize amount was £7,533,329! I just didn't believe it! I thought I was dreaming!

"It was only 7.30am so everyone was asleep. I woke up my girlfriend and showed her my ticket on the phone. She took a sleepy glance and said 'no, you haven't won', turned over and went back to sleep! I wasn't so sure, so called my dad as I knew he would be awake. He calmly told me to come home and we'd have a look."

Along with his mum, dad and brother, Thomas, 24, James sat on the corner of his parent's bed waiting for the National Lottery Line to open at 9.00am. He said: "We called dead on nine and chatted through the ticket details and who I was. They eventually confirmed mine was the winning ticket. I think I just started laughing. I thought, 'this is mad!'

"I spent the rest of the day visiting my family and girlfriend who all live close by, all of us talking about the win. I have a big family and we are all close. News spread fast and we all ended up celebrating later at my grandma's and grandad's with a roast beef dinner and Champagne!"

But it was back to reality on Monday morning as James had work commitments to fulfil alongside his dad Stephen, 47, carrying out property maintenance. He said: "I was out in the cold fixing blocked drains the day after I found out I had won. It was a bit grim but that's reality.

"I'm not going to stop working, I'm too young. I want to qualify as a heating engineer and then go from there. I need to have a purpose in life, plus dad wouldn't let me not work anyway! He says there are plenty of millionaires out there that still work and you need a reason to get up each day."

James left school during the Covid pandemic and went on to start an apprenticeship in bricklaying which he stuck with until a year ago when he started working for his dad. James said: Bricklaying is a hard job and is really cold most of the time too. Now, working with dad, the van isn't much warmer but there is more variety, and I am getting to work towards my gas engineer certificate. I know people might think I'm mad to still work but I want to and, of course, there'll be some nice holidays in-between."

James has already booked an all-inclusive luxury break to Cape Verde and has treated himself to a few designer items, including a Gucci bag for his girlfriend and two new jackets for himself. He hopes his next purchase is going to be a new car, preferably an Audi.

He said: "I'm not really a fan of shopping, it's not my idea of fun but a new car, that would be massive! If you drive a cold work van all day, going from job to job, you'd understand. The comfort, the steering, the heated seats. I realise how jammy that sounds. Not many people my age can afford the car insurance let alone a car like that to drive."

James is also a massive City fan and goes to games whenever he can get a ticket. The young tradesman has supported them all his life, after his dad took him to his first match when he was just three years old. He now hopes he will be able to see many more matches and even get a season ticket for him and his family.

With his win, James also wants to help his family, including paying off his parents' mortgage, as he said: "I've been thinking about it a lot, it's what I want to do. I told them last night and they seemed really overwhelmed. We are close and they have always been there for me. This win isn't just for me, I want to make sure we all benefit."