EuroMillions winner who had to rely on food banks after not being paid prize shares first thing he bought with money

A EuroMillions winner who claims to have relied on food banks until being given his winnings has opened up about the first thing he splashed the cash on.

Pete Daly, 71, spent just £2.50 on a lottery ticket before his EuroMillions numbers matched up, leaving him with a nice £582.20 return.

However, the pensioner from Pensby, Wirral, said he had to wait over a month for the money to arrive.

He told the Liverpool Echo: "I won £582.20 and every time I ring them up I get a different story.

The 71-year-old said he waited over a month for the payout (Pete Daly)

"I have been paying for the lottery for 10 years, that is £10 a week, £1,040 every year for 30 years and I finally make £500 and they won’t give me it."

Luckily, the situation has all been sorted now which he says has been a huge 'relief'.

Pete said he received the full amount at 3.00pm on 12 September and that he decided to spend his winnings on paying off his car insurance.

"When I found out I had won I paid my car insurance off with my entire cash for the month because I was thinking this money would come in to keep me afloat for the month," he added.

"I got the letter through the post at 3 o'clock [on September 12], but that's when the banks shut so I had to pay it into a machine outside.

"I'd gone straight down. I've spent half my winnings already, the other half has to last me until I get my pension in a fortnight.

"It has been a relief since I got it, I've got my new shoes and a haircut."

A spokesperson for lottery operator Allwyn apologised for the delay, saying: "We’re very sorry to hear the concerns raised and colleagues have now called Mr Daly with an update.

"We successfully process hundreds – sometimes thousands – of prize claims every week.

"This is following the introduction of a revised claims process that we had to bring in earlier this year following the Post Office's decision to no longer pay National Lottery retail prizes between £500.01 and £50,000.

"Unfortunately, a small number of these claims are delayed for various reasons.

Pete won £582.20 from a £2.50 ticket (Illustration by Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

"However, we're continuing to work on new ways to help further improve the claims process and would like to reassure our winners that they will definitely receive their prize."

This comes after Pete previously complained: "I've been living in food banks all month because it hasn't come in, I can't afford a haircut, I need new shoes.

"I can't afford anything because I paid for the car insurance thinking I'd get this money within 10 days.

"I'm stuck in the house, I can't afford to go anywhere, I can't afford the waste of fuel.

"I need this money, I'm struggling, money is the difference to being able to live, it sorts me to be able to live, not living well, but living."