Millionaire lottery winner forced to lay off drivers
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• A tipper operator who won 22.5m on the national lottery two months ago is being forced to lay off drivers due to lack of work.
All four drivers at Thomas Transport, Murton, Co Durham face Christmas on the dole "unless there is a dramatic improvement", says boss Harry Thomas, who has already pumped 2200,000 of his winnings into the business.
The family firm run by his three sons has no contracts and tippers are standing idle at least two days a week.
Thomas, who is semi-retired, says: "I'll help the drivers out of my own pocket to make sure they have a good Christmas, but things are so tight we just can't carry on putting money into the firm."
Two years ago Thomas employed nearly 50 people with another haulage firm, Thomas Bros, but that went bust as coal deliveries to power stations ceased in the wake of pit Closures.