Lottery winner Peter Lavery says he is lucky again after surviving a bus crash
“I was almost across the street when I saw the bus coming… ‘Flip, it’s hitting me,’ I thought.”
Lavery – a former bus driver who hit a £10.2 million jackpot 27 years ago – was hit from behind by a double-decker while crossing the road outside the town hall on Monday morning.
Last night he said that Sunday world: “I’m fine. I lost some blood in the accident and was obviously shocked, but other than a little soreness I’m doing better. I know I was very lucky.”
He said he was walking to the Europa Hotel – the hotel where the lottery win was announced – at 9am to meet a businessman when the accident occurred.
“I have 16 stitches on the back of my head and will have them removed on Monday. I hope I can get back to work once this is done.
“The bus hit me with full force. I’ve lost a lot of blood. I was three quarters of the way across the street and when I saw it coming I just knew it was going to hit me. I just knew it.
“I fell unconscious, a police officer was working at the town hall and gave me first aid. It was scary, but I’m here to tell the story.”
A full-scale emergency ensued when nearby police officers rushed to the aid of the 61-year-old Short Strand man.
Peter Lavery revealed he suffered 16 stitches to the back of his head after being hit by a bus on Monday
The area around Donegall Square West – adjacent to a war memorial at the town hall – was cordoned off while PSNI officers battled to revive the unconscious Peter.
Another person was injured in the incident that brought this part of the city center to a standstill. And after being assessed and given initial treatment by paramedics at the scene, both were taken by ambulance to the Royal Victoria Hospital.
In conversation with the Sunday world From his detached villa overlooking Belfast Lough on the Co Down Gold Coast, Peter said he was just happy to be home.
He said: “It would be wrong for me to say too much at this point because as a former bus driver I know how to deal with accidents.”
“I expect the police to make a statement about the incident shortly, so I won’t elaborate other than to say I’m feeling a bit unwell, but I’m on the mend.”
He added: “I know I’ve been very lucky, but it’s not the first time I’ve been lucky.”
Millionaire lottery winner Peter Lavery shortly after winning the lottery in 1996
When a friend learned of Peter’s death, he said, “He won the lottery twice.”
The exact circumstances of the accident and the causes are still unclear.
The condition of the second person hospitalized is also currently unknown.
Lavery became a popular public figure when he won £10.2 million on the National Lottery in May 1996.
At the time he was working as a city bus driver, earning around £200 a week.
But he immediately captured the public’s hearts when he turned up for work the day after winning the money having already agreed to take a busload of pensioners on a tour of the Glens of Antrim.
A former work colleague said: “That was typical of Peter. He was a ten-fold millionaire, but showed up for work because the pensioners were late while Citybus found another driver to replace him.”
Since winning the lottery, Peter has proven himself to be a shrewd businessman and entrepreneur over the years.
Peter founded his whiskey company The Titanic Distillers, bringing production back to Belfast for the first time in 90 years
Last month he was the subject of a BBC documentary about his recent and hugely successful efforts to bring whiskey distilling back to Belfast.
A few years ago, Lavery founded Titanic Distillers. And just a few weeks ago he watched with pride as his Titanic Whiskey was introduced to an eager audience in Northern Ireland for the first time.
Peter says a childhood dream came true when he opened a whiskey distillery in a former drydock pump house next to the launch of the doomed White Star liner Titanic.
The amber liquid has proven popular with tourists arriving on cruise ships. According to Peter, they love the idea of Titanic Whiskey being distilled just meters from where the ship was launched in 1912.