A BORDERS tree surgeon has scooped a whopping £250,000 from his very first Scratchcard.

Craig Takacs from Hawick bought the lucky Cash Rich Scratchcard from his local Co-op last weekend.

And the 31-year-old didn’t even bother playing the game until later on the Sunday evening.

But when he did finally reveal the top prize of £25,000 per year for the next decade, he and partner, Rhonda Stewart, were left stunned.

Craig told us: “I haven’t bought a Scratchcard before but for some reason I decided to get one with the change I had left from my shopping. I put it in my pocket and then forgot about it until I was getting ready for bed.

“When I scratched it I really didn’t believe I had won – I must have looked at it over 100 times to make sure. I told my partner Rhonda straight away and she was so excited.” The couple, who have four children, had to wait until the following morning to claim their prize.

And they were quick to decide that they should buy a house with the windfall.

Craig added: “We couldn’t phone the claim line until it opened at 9am the following morning so we set our alarm for first thing. I didn’t get to sleep until 4am with all the excitement.

“I’m glad I noticed it in my pocket as it might have ended up in the washing machine!

“I never used to think I would have a chance of winning the lottery but I’ll be buying tickets and Scratchcards from now on. I’m not sure what made me decide to buy one when I did – I like to think it was my late gran looking down and giving me a nudge to do it.”