A FERRY-PORT worker sat in a dark room with a cup of tea to get over the shock of finding he had won a National Lottery windfall of £4.3 million with a lucky dip Lotto ticket.

Grandfather James Couper, from Greenock, Inverclyde, said he was “confused and in utter disbelief” after a workmate read out last Saturday’s winning numbers – 5, 21, 23, 34, 43 and 45 – during a lunch break at work the following day.

Couper matched all six and scooped half of the £8.7m jackpot. The 46-year-old said he was still coming to terms with the win and had not decided whether to give up his job with Caledonian MacBrayne at Wemyss Bay.

He plans to take son Daniel, 16, and daughter Rachel, 20, and her two children to Disney World in Florida as well as treating himself to a new house and a motorbike.

Couper said: “We were sitting chatting on our lunch break when my workmate came across the Lotto results in the newspaper.

“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.

“When I saw them there in black and white, I just couldn’t get my head round it.

“I was so stunned I went home and sat in a dark room with a cup of tea. I just sat there shaking. I think more tea ended up on the floor than in my mouth.”