A MAN who went to buy a packet of sweets for his children came away with a car.

Self-employed block pavier Marc Pickering, from Spennymoor, County Durham, won a £15,000 Vauxhall Astra SRi after buying an Instants scratchcard at Tudhoe Colliery Post Office in Spennymoor.

Marc said: "When I realised I'd won the car I was absolutely stunned. I had only popped into the post office to pick up some sweets for the kids and decided to buy a Cars and Cash scratchcard as well.

"There I was sitting in my H-reg Astra realising I had won a brand new one."

Marc plans to take his wife and three children, Marc, four, Emma, three and eight-month-old Rachel to Disneyland Paris later this year in his new car, which was supplied by Sherwoods, of Darlington.