A GREENOCK dad has told of his joy at winning £4.3m in the National Lottery - and revealed how he hid the winning ticket in his son's old toy box.

James Couper, 46, struck it lucky on Saturday night and the Cal Mac ferry worker can now set sail on an exciting new future.

As revealed in today's Tele, James had no idea he'd won after the draw on Saturday night.

He was relaxing during his lunch break at Wemyss Bay pier the following day at work when a colleague read out the winning numbers and James suddenly realised he had matched every single one.

He said: “We were just casually sitting chatting on our lunch break when my workmate came across the Lotto results in the newspaper. I got my ticket out as he read them aloud and was so confused that they were all my numbers.

“I thought that he’d gotten a hold of my ticket somehow and knew my numbers meaning it was all a joke, so I grabbed the newspaper to check it for myself. When I saw them there in black and white and as clear as day, I just couldn’t get my head around it. I was so confused and in utter disbelief.

“I immediately phoned Camelot to check and they confirmed that I had a winning ticket - at that point it all began to feel very real. I was so stunned that I had to go home and actually ended up sitting in a dark room for a few hours, just letting it all sink in.

“I’ve dreamt of this moment so many times but when it actually happened, it was a total shock. I kept checking the numbers over and over again as I thought there must be a mistake – the information just wasn’t going in!”

The first person to be told the amazing news was James’ 20-year-old daughter, Rachel, who didn’t believe him until later that night.

He added: “I used to play the lottery regularly using set numbers but then somewhere along the line I stopped and just started playing now and again with Lucky Dips. Boy, am I glad that I decided to pick up that Lucky Dip now!

“I protected that ticket with my life. I hid it away in my son’s old toy box at the back of a cupboard. I’d be sitting in the house and I’d just have to check it was still there – numerous times a day! I couldn’t help myself; I was not going to get this far just to lose my winning ticket.”

While James wants to wait a while before he decides what to do with his win, he’s sure he will buy a new home and car. He also plans to take his two children, Rachel, 20, and Daniel, 16, to Disney World in Orlando, Florida, for a blowout holiday.

As revealed in today's Tele exclusive, James bought his winning Lucky Dip from the Tesco Extra on Dalrymple Street, Greenock. His winning numbers were 5, 21, 23, 34, 43 and 45.

* SEE TOMORROW'S TELE FOR A FULL, EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH JAMES.