People’s Postcode Lottery winner planning first holiday after huge win

A 65-year-old man is planning to buy his first passport after winning £800,000 in a postcode lottery.

Tony Labruna, from Bedminster, Bristol – who said he “hasn’t ever won anything in life” – described the win as “mind-blowing”.

The retired bus mechanic, who said he had only ever been on holiday to Weymouth, plans to celebrate by realising his lifelong dream of travelling abroad.

While he was the biggest winner, a number of his neighbours in BS3 5BA also received huge sums as part of a £3.2m win.

“It’ll be my first time travelling so I want to see how it is and take it easy. If I go to Spain or France and see the different cultures for two weeks, I’ll be happy,” Mr Labruna said.

Having been through a decade of health issues following a heart attack, Mr Labruna said he was “lucky to be alive” and that he did not know “whether to cry, scream or jump up and down”.

“I haven’t been used to a lot of money. I’ve been used to getting my wages and that’s just for living on,” he added.

“But this, it’s just life-changing.”

Every ticket for the People’s Postcode Lottery was worth £400,000, but Mr Labruna doubled his win by playing with two tickets.

His neighbour Celestina Joseph, 62, was one of the lucky winners to take home £400,000, and she plans to use her winnings to buy a new home to share with her younger sister Catherine, 60, and their nephew Jack, 27.

Lorna, Jack’s mother, died two years ago following an infection after a heart operation, leading to a “tough couple of years”, Ms Joseph said.

Catherine added: “We were the three musketeers. Then Jack came along and we were the four musketeers. She would have enjoyed all this.”

The three are also planning a dream trip to the Maldives, flying business class, as a “once-in-a-lifetime experience”.

A further 480 people playing with the winning postcode area of BS3 5 received cheques ranging from £2,973 to £11,892, depending on how many tickets they play with.

Mum-of-four Karen McGlone, 52, who also won £400,000, said the money meant she could now buy her dream home in Devon.

Civil servant Karen said: “I’ve been manifesting this – every time we go on holiday I keep saying ‘when we get our house in Devon, when we win the lottery we’ll get this.’

“It’ll be a holiday home to start with but when we retire we’ll move permanently. It’s just so much slower, and quieter and warmer.”

But for now, Ms McGlone has set her sights on something a bit closer to home.

“We’ve got a bottle of Moët in the fridge,” she said.

“So it’s champagne first and then we can start planning the next phase of our lives.”