National Lottery advises man who jokingly tried to claim £250,000 with scratch card to 'invest in some proper glue'

'Due to my clumsiness... I have also spilt pen ink on the other identifying number in the game column,' says man

'The extra £250,000 on the top right hand corner has been placed very carefully,' says the National Lottery (Jonny Smith/Facebook)

The National Lottery has advised a man who jokingly tried to claim £250,000 with a fake scratch card to fire proof his home and "invest in some proper glue".

The amusing exchange, which has been shared thousands of times on social media, came after Jonny Smith posted an image of the scratch card complete with "accidental" fire damage and ink spills on the National Lottery's Facebook page.

“You can clearly see I have revealed [three] £250,000 figures in the end column meaning I should be able to start shopping at Waitrose in the near future," wrote Mr Smith, who is from Ossett, West Yorkshire.

He then went on to explain why the card was so damaged.

In the post which has been 'liked' by more than 43,000 people and shared more than 20,000 times, he said the barcodes on the reverse had been removed by a small fire.

“This completely accidental inferno has also damaged the game number on the front side," he added.

“I may also add that due to my clumsiness, in a completely separate incident I have also spilt pen ink on the other identifying number in the game column. Just my bloody luck eh!?”

He signed off the post asking the National Lottery to direct message him to confirm he was the winner.

Mr Smith's message to the National Lottery (Jonny Smith/Facebook)

Unfortunately for Mr Smith, the National Lottery, after investigating the image, decided not to hand over the winnings but did continue the joke about how the card became so damaged.

In a response on Facebook, which has been ‘liked’ more than 80,000 times, a spokesperson called Hayley pointed out that the fire was “very selective” and suggested Mr Smith fire-proof his home “to avoid such instances from happening again”.

“Furthermore, looking at the image very closely it has come to our attention that the extra £250,000 on the top right hand corner has been placed very carefully, however we recommend that you invest in some proper glue.”

The scratch card along with the National Lottery's response (Jonny Smith/Facebook)

She added: “We wish you every success in the future with our games – maybe, just maybe one day you will be able to shop at Waitrose.”

Mr Smith later posted on Facebook: “To summarise: I don’t think I’m getting 250k.”