One million people have happy Premium Bond New Year

More than one million people are celebrating the New Year with a Premium Bond win.

14:18 06 January 2005

Across the UK, more than one million people are celebrating the New Year with a Premium Bond win, with some of the highest value prizes being won by old bonds or small investments.

A 100,000 win in Staffordshire is one of five awarded across the UK and the only one in Staffordshire in the January Premium Bond prize draw, which is operated by National Savings and Investments.

Sally Swait, Premium Bond manager at National Savings and Investments, said: "Every month, a good many older Premium Bonds and those of relatively low value do win prizes, large and small, disproving the myth that you need to have a large investment to win something."

In Staffordshire more than 237,000 people hold Premium Bonds worth more than 190 million. However, more than 3,700 prizes worth around 230,000 remain unclaimed, including one of 10,000 and six worth 1,000 each.

Ms Swait added: "With considerable amounts of money still unclaimed, we would encourage people across the country who own Premium Bonds to use our website to find out if any of these unclaimed prizes are theirs."