I thought I won £1million – but then I was told I’d get NOTHING due to ‘residency rule’… now my prize is gone

A WOMAN has told how she thought she had won £1million in a radio competition only to be left with nothing.

Lesley Fletcher, 58, thought she was the 10th and final entrant into Heart Radio’s Make Me a Millionaire competition.

Lesley Fletcher

Lesley Fletcher

But the loyal listener was left devastated when she realised a rule meant she couldn’t win.

Fletcher, a child social worker currently on locum in St Helena, Jersey, during the week, flies home to Buckinghamshire on the weekends.

On Thursday the longtime Heart Radio listener entered into the Make Me a Millionaire competition on the radio after texting in with the name and artist of a song played.

GOT THE CALL

The radio station called her back and told her she had won and would be the 10th and final entrant with a shot at a million pounds.

But it all fell apart when the station’s producer realised that she hadn’t entered the competition from Britain.

Fletcher exclusively told The Sun: “They said on the radio: ‘If you’re a UK resident and you can be in London tonight you can enter’.

“So I entered and about half past three I got a call from Matt Wilkinson from Heart Radio, very exciting as you can imagine.

“I thought ‘Oh my god, I’ve won 10th place’… I’m very very excited because there’s a one in 10 chance of winning a million pounds.

Wilkinson then ran though a list of conditions, but when Fletcher said she was at work in Jersey they put her on hold.

A producer then came onto the phone and after 15 minutes said that the terms and condition specified you had to enter the competition from the UK.

Heart Radio’s website clearly states in the terms and conditions that an entrant must do so from British soil.

But Fletcher is now disputing that’s not what Wilkinson said on air.

She said: “I said I do live in the UK and I can get to London tonight, the two things you said on the radio.

“I only work here, I can be in London by tonight.

“I said: ‘It’s not fair on me you’ve just dangled a million pounds in front of me’.

“It’s just shocking.”

She claimed she was told she should have checked the full terms and conditions and that they had said so on air.

Fletcher has now refused to ever listen again.

She said: “I’ve listened to Heart for years and years and years. Jamie Theakston has been the most consistent man in my life and now I don’t even want to listen to him anymore.

“And now I’m going to have to pack him in.”

Fletcher was also left fuming after she paid £4 for three entries into the competition, after the first text cost £2.

“You make a lot of money out of people texting into your competition.

“I think it’s unfair and they should give me a million pounds anyway for my inconvenience and me thinking I was a millionaire for 15 minutes.”

She said she would have paid for her daughter’s wedding if she had won the million pounds after correctly guessing the song Wannabe by the Spice Girls.

A Heart Radio spokesman said: “Our Make Me A Millionaire promotion rules are clear – you must be in Great Britain at the time of entering and you must also live in Great Britain.  We signpost these terms consistently on air.

“We, like all competition promoters, have to adhere to these strict parameters because local laws outside of Great Britain vary. Anyone outside Great Britain is therefore ineligible to enter and we must be fair and consistent with all entrants and participants.

“At every stage of the promotion we explain the rules and tell our listeners to read the full terms and conditions which can be found at heart.co.uk. We do not feel in any way unclear about this.”