A LOTTERY winner who scooped at £13.5million jackpot uses his fleet of luxury cars to help people in need.
Peter Congdon, 76, celebrated his big win in 2015 by snapping up a number of luxury motors including a BMW i8, BMW i3, Bentley Continental, Porsche Cayman and three Land Rover Defenders.
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But far from pursuing a life of selfishness, the retired bus driver and funeral director has used his fortune to help others – starting with a bride whose wedding was scuppered by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The woman’s wedding had been cancelled four times, leaving her unable to get a suitable vehicle in time for the big day.
Peter, from Truro, Cornwall, said the bride was resigned to using her dad’s car for the big day, but was overjoyed to see a Bentley parked across the street and realise she did “have a beautiful wedding car”.
Grandfather-of-ten Peter told the Manchester Evening News: “She wept so much that she had to go back in to get her make up fixed.”
He added: “Since then, when I hear of a bride who can’t afford a car, I’ll step in to volunteer. I think I’ve taken more than 25 Cornish brides to say ‘I do’.
“I always turn up in my best suit to help make it the happiest day of her life, and the only payment I need is to see the joy on their faces.”
When Peter first won, he gave £1.2million in funding towards an anti-gravity hydro pool at the Merlin Centre – a nauerotherapy unit in Cornwall – in tribute to his late wife Rosemary, who suffered from Multiple Sclerosis.
He also donated a new Range Rover, to be auctioned off in a raffle by the centre.
Kind-hearted Peter now uses his fleet of luxury cars to help people in need – including a “local lad” who wanted to arrive in style at his school prom in Peter’s BMW.
One teenage girl who sat in his BMW “cried because it was her dream car”, Peter said.
He has also taken hospice patients on days out, including one young girl battling cancer, who wanted to be a “princess for a day”.
Peter also said he heard about a woman who could not afford to get to her brother’s funeral, so he took her in his Bentley for free.
He has also bought several homes, which he rents out to “deserving local young people” to help them get on the property ladder.
He had been driving an old Ford Kuga at the time of his win.
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