I won lottery prize but all I got was a meal deal thanks to bizarre rule… now I’ve had my benefits CUT & I’m on street
A LOTTERY winner who was refused his prize at a supermarket before finding himself homeless, claims he’s now had his benefits cut off completely.
Kevin Layne, 63, was told to vacate the room he’d been renting for three years by last Friday – weeks after Tesco refused to give him his £140 winnings.
He instead just bought a meal deal, and claims he was ultimately banned from the store.
Now Kevin, who suffers with severe asthma, is at risk of rough sleeping as winter approaches.
The Sun understands that the landlord says he is acting perfectly lawfully.
But to add to Kevin’s troubles, he claims his benefits were stopped this week too and he doesn’t know why.
The tradesman, from Kidderminster, Worcestershire, returned to the UK four years ago due to Covid after living in Thailand and China for nearly two decades.
He told The Sun: “I find out today my claim’s stopped – homeless around the corner, no home, no claim, no phone, no f*** all.
“I should have waited in Thailand to go back to China.”
He claims, as he is “not computer literate” that “the dole just stopped my claim” and told him to lodge an appeal for reasons he doesn’t understand.
Since returning to the UK, Kevin, originally from Blackpool, Lancashire, has been doing temporary jobs – though has often found it difficult to make ends meet.
“I came back from Asia because of Covid, but all agencies are a nightmare,” he explained.
“If I was offered a job in China I would set off walking now.”
Referring to his benefits claim, he said the job centre has asked him for bank statements to reverse the decision, but he is with a virtual bank – and he was confused about accessing them online.
“It turns out the statements are in the phone, I now know,” he said.
“I’ve told them before, I am not computer literate, I will come in and they can take them out because I can’t print them off, I don’t know how.
“I turned up an hour early from work to co-operate, however… [they] had other ideas.
“It was disgraceful. On it goes, apparently I have 14 days to appeal, however being treated like a child, chastised and basically called a liar.”
Kevin received his last benefits payment last week and says he will try for more work “before I pursue my claim”.
Previously, we reported how he had been given a formal notice to vacate his property or a court order would be sought.
The deadline for leaving was last Friday (October 25) and Kevin said he remains in his room for the time being.
He said: “People here don’t realise, when I returned I had no bank, no credit score, no job, no references.
“To come in this country as a foreigner is far easier than it was for me, I now have debit cards but it’s taken me three years to get them.”
Kevin has approached Wyre Forest Council but says they have not provided him emergency accommodation.
“I did go and see them when it all started and they’re useless, I’ve never heard from them since,” he claims.
I have no references or a permanent job, so finding alternative accommodation is virtually impossible. In case you’re wondering, homeless means homeless to me – I returned with a British passport and tried to support myself from day one.
Kevin Layne
Now I face homelessness with asthma, inevitably. No paid hotel for me, just a shop doorway.
He previously told the Sun: “I have no references or a permanent job, so finding alternative accommodation is virtually impossible.
“In case you’re wondering, homeless means homeless to me – I returned with a British passport and tried to support myself from day one.
“Now I face homelessness with asthma, inevitably. No paid hotel for me, just a shop doorway.”
LOTTERY
It comes after Kevin went into his local Tesco in Comberton Hill on August 13 and tried to claim his winnings from the previous Saturday’s Lotto draw, while also picking up a meal deal.
“I paid for my food and then she (the cashier) looked at the lottery ticket and said I can’t pay that, it’s too much,” he previously told The Sun.
“I said it’s £140. I said I put it on here regularly and sometimes I put it on for a month, which is £80. I also put my phone credit on which makes it £90 – sometimes I’ve gone in that shop and paid £100.
“She said you can’t bring that in here,” said Kevin, adding that he was then barred from the shop following a row.
A spokesperson for Allwyn, the National Lottery operator, said: “National Lottery retailers are required to pay out up to £100 in prize money, and up to £500 at their own discretion.”
They added: “It really depends on what Tesco’s own policy is with regards to paying out prizes over £100.”
We understand Tesco tries to pay out on prizes up to £500 where cash is available but it is dependent on how much cash is in tills.
The Sun has contacted the Department for Work and Pensions and Wyre Forest Council for comment.