A FARNWORTH woman has slammed Camelot after she was told to fill in a form to claim a cash prize of just £1.

Sharron Knott, 35, bought an instant lottery ticket for £1 from a newsagent near her workplace on Longshaw Drive in Little Hulton.

But when she returned to the outlet, Sharron was unable to collect her £1 win or exchange the prize for another ticket.

Sharron, who lives in Highfield Road, said: "The tickets are supposed to offer instant cash prizes. There were three noughts in a row on the ticket and that's exactly what I got. It is ironic that the Camelot inquiry phone number ends in 000.

"The shopkeeper checks the ticket on a lottery machine and should give you the money after that.

"But on this occasion a chitty came out instructing me to put in a prize claim at the lottery office.

"I have spent money phoning Camelot about the win. I got a prize claim form from the newsagent and sending it off will cost another 25p. "And Camelot themselves will be worse off sending out a £1 cheque because they will have to cover administration costs.

"After all the inconvenience I am not even going to bother claiming the money. The newsagent said the same thing had happened with other winners.

"Maybe things like this explain why there are so many unclaimed prizes. People will not take the trouble to contact Camelot." A Camelot spokesperson responded: "Lottery terminals occasionally display this message if they are unable to register the bar code on a ticket or when the prize on a ticket has already been paid.

"If the customer sends the ticket to the address on the back of it with a note explaining what has happened, we will pay out the prize."

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