UK - Lotto winner railman back in work

[John Ashworth]

Lotto winner railman back in work
Page last updated at 14:23 GMT, Sunday, 24 August 2008 15:23 UK
BBC

A train driver whose family syndicate won £6.9m on the lottery 10 months ago has gone back to work on the railway.

Carl Prance, aged 50, gave up his job after he and five relatives scooped a share of an £88m EuroMillions jackpot.

He failed a medical to return to his old job, but has now retrained as a resources manager at Arriva Trains.

Mr Prance, who moved from his terraced home in Cardiff to a luxury seaside caravan, said he had been itching to work again after holidaying abroad.

He had worked on the railway for 34 years before he and his family collected a cheque for £6,989,367.40 in October 2007.

Mr Prance, his brother Steven, 47, sisters Jacquie Wood, 53, Christine Mills, 52, and Ceri Howe, 43, and his mother-in-law Lilian shared the prize after buying a lucky dip ticket while they were on holiday in the south Wales seaside resort of Porthcawl.

The railman and his wife Gillian, gave their three-bedroom house in Splott, Cardiff, to daughter Sarah, 19, paid off the mortgages of sons Lee, 30, and Ian, 27, and bought a £64,000 caravan in Porthcawl.

'Millionaire's Row'

Other members of the family have also bought luxury caravans to set up a "Millionaires' Row" at the resort's Trecco Bay park.

But after a number of foreign breaks, he realised how much he was missing work.

"Some people might think I'm mad with all this money - but trains are in my blood," he said.

"My father and grandfather worked on the railways all their lives. I couldn't spend the rest of my life on holiday.

"After the win I went on holiday to various resorts abroad but I coudn't see myself doing that for the rest of my life.

"We went to Greece, Gran Canaria, Tenerife and Spain but after a few months of holidays I was itching to get back to work."

His £600-a-week job setting the rosters for drivers and guards now includes getting up at 5am to drive to work in his Jaguar car to start his 6am shift, and also means night working from 10pm to 5am..

He said: "I was disappointed to be told that I could not go back as a driver because my hearing wasn't 100 per cent.

"But I was delighted when they offered a job in the offices and I was thrilled to take it because it meant I was working with trains and my old workmates again."

Arriva Trains said the company was "delighted" he had decided to return to work.

A spokeswoman said: "We know that once working for the railways gets into people's blood they are keen to keep on the right track for us."