A RETIRED hospital porter is celebrating a National Lottery win.

William Iveson, 72, from New Brancepeth, near Durham, could not believe his eyes when he checked his lottery numbers and found that he had scooped £74,800 in last week's Wednesday Lotto draw.

He decided to go to Taylor's newsagents, in North Road, Durham, to check the figures again.

Mr Iveson said: "The first thing I did was come down here and asked them to put the numbers through the machine to make sure I had them right, and I did."

He had five correct numbers; 3, 11, 28, 34, 45 and the bonus ball 42.

Had Mr Iveson put his wife's birth date, 25, on the line as well, it would have scooped him the jackpot.

"The numbers I pick are just random," said the pensioner. "I usually pick my wife's birthday and my birthday and the year we were born. This time I left off 25, but I had it in the three other lines I had."

Mr Iveson, who was a porter at St Mary's hospital in Portsmouth, said he was not planning to use his windfall for any major changes, but he planned to pay off his mortgage and take his wife, Joan, on holiday to Bali and Australia.