A MANAGER has struck it lucky and won £5,000 for charity, thanks to the new European Lottery.

Steve Brown, from Bells Stores head office in Skelton, east Cleveland, never expected to walk away with a cheque after attending a European Lottery presentation for companies which have accounts with Camelot.

The 150 people attending the corporate event were invited to try their luck with the lottery machine for the new European venture.

But Mr Brown's numbers came up for the top prize of £5,000 to give to the charity of his choice.

If he had been playing an actual lottery game then Steve could have been about £15m richer.

"I generally don't win anything," said Mr Brown.

"I really thought it was a wind-up when they said I'd won, and I didn't think it could be possible.

"I think it was rigged so that at least one person in the room won, but it still wasn't bad to be a winner out of 150 people."

Mr Brown chose to give his winnings to the NSPCC.

"I wanted to give the money to a children's charity and I like the fact that the work the NSPCC does can be very local," he said.

Mr Brown presented the NSPCC with the cheque yesterday at Bells Stores head office, in Skelton.

John Hinman, corporate fundraising manager for the NSPCC in the area, said: "We are delighted by this great start to the New Year for our fundraising efforts in the Tees Valley and really appreciate the support of Steve and Bells Stores."