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Paul and Louise Drake, both 47, learnt that their lives had changed forever at 4.30 am one morning.

They are prioritising paying off the mortgage on their house in Seafield, near Bathgate, West Lothian, with the eye-watering sum.

Mum-of-two Louise was more alarmed than excited when Paul dashed into their bedroom in the early hours after leaving for work.

But he was letting her know they had matched all of their six numbers — 23, 26, 34, 36, 44 and 59 — in the Lottery and scooped £5,162,779 in the draw on July 28.

Paul, who worked as a production operator with Lidl, is now eyeing up both a Porsche and a Range Rover.

But he insisted that while they are both delighted to have won a huge pile of money, they “won’t let it change who we are”.

“We’ve both worked hard all our lives, as did our parents,” he said.

“I’ll still chase a bargain and I definitely won’t be paying £6.50 for a bacon roll at the golf club.

“Our friends, family and colleagues are over the moon for us.”

Explaining how they came to realise they had won, he said: “I car share with two colleagues and it was my turn to do the driving.

“I was just getting into the car when I had this niggling feeling to check my Lotto Lucky Dip numbers. I checked my ticket and just sat there in shock.

“Now, I’m not an emotional guy but I just burst into tears.

“I ran back into the house screaming and woke Louise up to tell her.”

Louise, who works as a district nurse, said: “At first I thought it was £5,000 [that we had won] and tried to go back to sleep.

“But obviously that didn’t happen.”

Paul added: “As I was the designated driver that day I still had to go and pick up the guys for work.

“I went into the office and just said I wouldn’t be able to come in. It was so hard to keep it to myself.”

As essential workers, Paul and Louise have been working hard over the last 18 months.

Louise is keen to take their sons, aged 11 and 15, to New York – and is also planning a family trip to Florida to please her mum.

She said of her wedding: “We got married at Gretna Green in 2015. We stopped for coffee and just decided to do it then and there.

“I was wearing jeans. My mum wasn’t happy.

“She softened a bit when we took her to Florida with us though, so I definitely want to create more memories like that.”

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