Early start for Broadstone bus drivers who won €24m lottery

A Dublin Bus syndicate is believed to be the winner of the latest EuroMillions jackpot, worth almost €24 million.

Twenty-two bus crew at the Broadstone garage in north Dublin are understood to have scooped the €23,845,060 prize in Friday night’s lottery draw.

All was quiet at the Broadstone garage yesterday, except for the occasional Bus Éireann bus arriving and departing, and workmen doing some overtime on a new extension.

The 22 drivers who found out on Friday evening that they were going to be millionaires were nowhere to be seen.

They work Monday to Friday, and are due back on shift at 6am today. They work a split shift covering rush hours, between 6am and 10am and 4pm and 8pm.

One of the drivers told the Sunday World: "Yeah, it was us alright. We haven't all spoken to each other yet, so I'm not even sure how much we will walk away with."

One driver turning up for his shift in the adjacent Phibsboro garage yesterday said: “We’re all in syndicates. They just happened to win. If I had won the lottery, would I be here?”

The 22 bus crew who scooped Friday’s jackpot will take home €1,083,866.36 each.

Pay claim

On Friday, the National Bus and

Rail Union

(NBRU) had put forward a 30 per cent pay claim for Dublin bus drivers.

It is unlikely the lottery winners will need that money now. Some reports suggest many of them are coming up to retirement age in any case.

NBRU general secretary Dermot O’Leary said he did not know who the winners were yet, but he congratulated them on their success.

“It’s a good news story in fairness. Good luck to them.”

The National Lottery has so far declined to confirm even where the ticket was sold, and said it would not know the identity of those involved until today at the earliest.

The winning numbers were 2, 11, 13, 40 and 50. The Lucky Stars numbers were 1 and 10.

It is not the first time the Euromillions jackpot has been won by a player from the Republic.

A syndicate involving a group of friends won €66 million in January. They have chosen not to go public about their win.

That winning ticket was sold in the Easons store in Fairgreen Shopping Centre in Carlow town. It was a €15 quick-pick ticket for the January 29th draw.

Jackpots

The 12th-highest jackpot in the competition’s history was won by Dolores McNamara from Co

Limerick

, who collected a cheque to the value of €115,436,126 in July 2005.

Other winners in Ireland have scooped the jackpot with wins of €94 million, €29.4 million and €15 million.

EuroMillions is played in nine countries – Austria, Belgium, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.