A COUPLE who met five years ago at the Devonshire Arms at Bolton Abbey can now fulfil a lifelong dream - after scooping a massive win of more than £2.2m on the National Lottery.

Peter and Claire Occardi, of Skipton, aim to set up and run their own business after their life-changing numbers came up in the Lotto draw of September 16.

They are parents of a two-year-old son and say they will use their huge windfall to start their business and help to get their son off to a good start in life.

Peter, a design engineer who has worked extensively on ambulance design, said: “We’re both quite driven individuals and will always want to work in some capacity.

"Claire really wants to go in to property and business coaching and I’ve always wanted to set up my own manufacturing business, and now I can.

"Our win also means that we don’t have to worry about providing for our son. We can provide him with the best possible upbringing and can look at investing in a bigger house with a garden for him to enjoy as he grows up.”

The couple play the lottery on-line and didn't at first believe it when they were notified of their win. It was early morning and they were feeding their son when an email from the National Lottery asking them to check their account came through.

Peter said: "We’d had a similar email last week and we had won £25, so initially I thought it would be another of the same so I didn’t really think much of it.

“On first glance at my phone, I thought we’d won just over £2,000, but I looked again and noticed there were too many digits. I said: ‘We’ve not won £25, we’ve won £2m!' We both couldn’t believe our eyes, and were convinced that it was a joke or some kind of mistake.”

Marketing consultant Claire confirmed that neither of them could believe their good fortune at first.

"Peter went to work and I carried on working at home. We didn’t even have an exciting tea - I made us jacket potatoes and cheese! The only person we told was my mum, who comes to babysit on a Thursday and Friday. I showed her the email when she arrived on Thursday morning and she almost fainted. "We’re both looking forward to properly celebrating with friends and family."