Couple row over £1m 'joint' Lotto scratch card as he's told he won't get share
A couple who won £1million from a Lotto scratch card amidst a nasty split are battling over who gets the life-changing cash prize.
Michael Cartlidge and Charlotte Cox landed the seven-figure sum after she bought the scratch card. But weeks after the purchase, 37-year-old Charlotte walked out on the relationship - and was deemed the sole recipient of the windfall.
Now furious Michael, 39, is trying to get his hands on his share of the money, saying it had been his idea to buy the scratch card and that he'd even tried to wire Charlotte the money for it. Mum-of-one Charlotte, who was the one to scratch the card, meanwhile claims she is the sole winner.
The fallout has sparked a probe by former lottery organisers Camelot, looking at CCTV from the show in Spalding, Lincolnshire, where they bought the card. Michael, has claimed Camelot indicated the winnings would be split.
But after the job of lottery chiefs recently passed to Allwyn, the new owners are instead ruling Charlotte as the rightful claimant. Michael, a security engineer, says he's is now considering legal action.
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“I am in shock,” he told The Sun. “I can openly admit that we wouldn’t have got that ticket without Charlotte, but she wouldn’t have got it without me either. I know it was her bank account that paid for it, but it should go 50-50 morally.”
Charlotte meanwhile has rubbished her ex's claims, with sources close to her insisting she had every right to the money after paying for the scratch card with her money and being the one to scratch it, revealing the winnings.
One source on her side said: “One million pounds has never brought so much misery. It’s ruined the last three months for her and her family.” The source added: “Mike has no right to this money. He is not a nice person. Charlotte won, she paid for the ticket and she scratched the ticket. The case is closed.”
Charlotte and Michael, both from Spalding, had been dating for three months when they discovered they had won the life-changing sum of money. The pair had popped to their local Lidl to buy dinner on a Friday night when they made the impulse purchase from a Nisa next door.
“She said she didn’t have the money to spend on scratchcards, but I said I’d transfer her the money,” Michael said. “We were in the shop and I went on my Halifax app because I didn’t have my bank card. I started the transfer, I held it up to show her. You can see me doing this on the shop CCTV, which Camelot has.”
Michael says he's now considering legal action for his share (Michael Cartlidge / facebook)
Charlotte Cox has reportedly claimed the entire prize pot (Facebook)But due to a lack of signal, Michael was unable to send across the money and Charlotte ended up paying the £10 for two Dice Towers cards herself. When they got home, Charlotte scratched away the windows, only to discover they'd landed the jackpot.
Michael says that when he opened his app moments later, it pinged to confirm the transfer. The couple spent the evening celebrating their win before returning to the shop the next day to begin the verification process.
Around three weeks after the win, they then met with officials at their local NatWest to discuss private banking for their win, which they were planning to use to buy a three-bed home and a new car. But Michael was floored when Charlotte reportedly asked him via a friend to leave. He did so, taking the winning ticket with him.
What followed was an acrimonious breakup, but ultimately with Michael still in possession of the scratch card which was in her name. He then handed the card to Camelot's legal team on November 21, and a rep interviewed them separately about the dispute.
An official message sent to the couple in January revealed the decision had been passed to the legal team over the possible split of the prize. But earlier this month, any hopes of the cash being split fell apart when Michael was sent a letter saying he was not entitled to any of it.
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Allwyn, who took over from Camelot at the end of January, said only the person whose name is on the card can claim the prize. A spokesperson said: “The National Lottery Rules for Scratchcard Games make clear that only one person can be the owner of a ticket and that only the person whose name and address is written on the back of a winning scratchcard can claim a prize.
"This means that a prize can only be paid to one person and this is always communicated clearly to prize claimants. Where a claimant agrees to share a prize with other parties (for example, players in a syndicate) after the prize has been paid, we always recommend that a legal agreement is drawn up between the interested parties. If there is no agreement in place, any dispute between the parties needs to be resolved between themselves.”
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