BT call centre staff snaffle £45m lottery win

A syndicate of seven or eight BT call centre staff are celebrating a massive Euromillions lottery win today. The workers, from BT's Royal House call centre in Liverpool, did not realise they'd won until they got into work this morning. They share a £45m win - giving each person a win of about £5.5m. Two different tickets won …

[Dan 10]

Ooh, the lucky blighters...

I'll bet that brightened up their morning - and probably made others around them even more miserable.

I'd hate to be the inevitable individual who declined from joining this syndicate back when they started it - "No thanks, I can't be bothered finding a quid a week..."

I can't complain, since I never bother playing.

[irish donkey]

I arrived for work late this morning

Everybody through it was me..

sob...

[neb]

lucky...

...bastids!

[spegru]

If you are into Call Centre Employment

Now is probably a good time to call!

[Tzael]

Nice one!

Haha you just know someone's going to take the opportunity to tell BT what to do with their job!

[Antony 2]

I used to work....

Up until about two years ago I used to work at the Virgin Media office at the Albert Dock in Liverpool.

A lot of my friends from there left around the same time I did, most went to work for BT (guess which office).

I've just text all my friends from VM who are now at BT, to see if any won the money.

[Stephen Gray]

Not BT'ers

According to the news it's a team of HP managers on secondment

[Dale Morgan]

a dream come true

thats great news for them, i'd love to have seen a manager try telling them to get to work while their screaming and laughing

[Colin 21]

Who do they work for?

The bbc state that "The syndicate is a group of IT workers who are employed by Hewlett Packard. "

So which is it, BT or HP?

[Anonymous Coward]

Nice!

Strange, the Beeb say the syndicate was a group of HP workers (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8351286.stm). Perhaps on a contract to BT?

[Anonymous Coward]

Hope BT had syndicate insurance...

Good on them. Hope they spend it wisely.

[Anonymous Coward]

BT ? HP ?

The BBC News are saying that it's workers at HP:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8351286.stm

Maybe something to do with:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/12/hp_bt_tieup/ perhaps?

Either way, I thought they'd both, in line with the company's policy of continuous product and service improvement, offshored their call centres.

Congratulations to the winners anyway.

[Dale 3]

I'm also a winner

I've been winning lotteries several times a week for the last couple of years. It happens so frequently now I don't even bother entering any more, and still I win.

[Chris Miller]

BT or HP?

The Beeb are reporting that they work for HP, not BT. Outsourced?

Whichever, best of luck to them all - begging letters arriving in 3, 2, 1, ...

[Seamaster]

Good luck to them!

Great to read this.

[Anonymous Coward]

service improvement?

Quote : Another worker told the local paper that winners had already been whisked away by Camelot - presumably to stop BT managers being told what to do with their jobs...

I suppose that's perferbale to them telling their "customers" where to stick their lousy BT problems.

[Anonymous Coward]

just imagine the call conversations...

Caller: Can you help me with installing the BT Broadband thingy you sent please?

Helpline: "I've just won the lottery!! "

Caller " ...little green light just keeps blinking... "

Helpline "£5.5m !! Think of what I can do with that"

...etc and downhill from there....

[Cliff]

A syndicate of seven or eight...

"A syndicate of seven or eight BT call centre staff are celebrating a massive Euromillions lottery win today."

Holy shit, I bet that 8th member who was late with his £1.50 whilst on holiday is panicking right now...

[Anonymous Coward]

@Antony 2

Yes, I'm sure you're the only person who's just texted them. Look around you, there's a few thousand other vultures with you.

[James 55]

The BBC

Says they were from HP. And the other ticket was owned by a couple from Newport.

[TS]

No need to burn bridges...

Might as well be nice on the way out... you might need the job back after wasting all the money living the high life for a few months and then finding yourself with no money and $20K/month mortgage(s), $5K/month car payment(s), and friends that have suddenly disappeared into the woodwork from whence they came.

[Pink Duck]

Spare a thought...

...for the 637 million whose ticket returned nothing more than a £1.50 loss

[Number6]

Joining a Syndicate

The main reason for joining the works lottery syndicate is so that you're not the only bugger left at the place on Monday morning. A previous boss told me that he'd only joined for basically that reason, that he didn't want to have to pick up the pieces after everyone else had quit.

Sadly, we're all still working and waiting.

[Anonymous Coward]

What are the chances

An actual call centre based in the UK!!

[Anonymous Coward]

HP

HP is BT's official IT support contractor, I should know as I also work for HP within BT doing IT support.

[Alex 3]

And....

> So which is it, BT or HP?

Yes - and where exactly do they live?

[Anonymous Coward]

If it's HP....

How will they deliver the winnings? Each tenner on its own pallet?

[John70]

Call Centre

There is a call centre in the UK?

[Bassey]

Re: Anonymous Coward @ 23:49

Comedy gold, my friend. Comedy gold :)

[Anonymous Coward]

HP / EDS

BT probably won't even notice they have gone they are that useful ;-)