‘This is my last shift’ - Lorry driver calls boss to quit job minutes after winning lottery

Tony Hedley has been driving lorry for 42 years - but a lottery win has triggered retirement

A lorry driver called up his boss to quit his job just minutes after finding out he and his wife had won £333,000 in a lottery.

Tony Hedley, aged 68, pulled up his truck to take a video call from his wife Christine, 65, who revealed they had each won £166,666 in the People’s Postcode Lottery on Thursday.

Within minutes the grandfather-of-four called up his manager to tell him he wouldn’t be coming in the following day, or returning at all.

Lorry driver Tony Hedley, with his wife Christine, after he quite his job on learning he’d won in the People’s Postcode Lottery (PA)

“It was just surreal, it was like the weight had lifted off my shoulders,” Mr Hedley said.

“When I finished the call with the Postcode Lottery, I phoned up work and said ‘when I come back, I’m not coming in tomorrow and this is my last shift’.

“I got back to the base, I dropped the trailer off and my manager said, ‘you lucky sod’, shook my hand and wished me all the best.”

Christine Hedley shows emotion as she’s told she has won £166,666 - while her husband Tony won the same amount (PA)

Mr Hedley added: “I’ve been working all my life and I think it’s time I had a break. When they revealed the envelope, it was just surreal.”

Mr Hedley now plans on taking retirement and a much-needed rest after driving heavy goods lorries for 42 years.

The couple from Newcastle upon Tyne are hoping to use the money to revamp their bathroom and garden, as well as going on a family getaway to Pitlochry, Scotland, in August.

Mrs Hedley said: “When I pulled the ticket out, I couldn’t believe it, I just cried I never thought it would be that big.

“It’s still unbelievable, I wake up in the morning and think ‘did I dream that?'”

As well as making some home improvements, the couple want to use the money to help out their two children and four grandchildren, along with a great-grandchild on the way.

“We’re not the type to go out on spending sprees and we don’t ask for much out of life,” Mrs Hedley said.

“I think the first thing is to make sure the kids are alright and get somebody in to do the gardens and bathroom and renovate the house a bit. And then we’ll think about it after that and just take things slowly.

“It’s lovely to know that we can just relax and live life for us now. These kinds of things don’t happen to people like us,” Mr Hedley said, with his wife adding: “Well, they do now.”