Elated granddad Terry Thomas will be able to spoil his wife, Fran, this Christmas after scooping £780 in vouchers after winning the Gazette’s Grab a Grand competition.

Mr Thomas, 53, a forklift driver from Northend, Calne, managed to grab the most of the £1,000 fake notes blowing about in a cash tent on December 6.

Mr Thomas said: “Although we have done our Christmas shopping we had decided that we were not going to buy each other gifts this year.

“This prize means we can now spoil each other rotten.

“This is the best Christmas present I could have hoped for.”

Mr Thomas said he will be dishing the money out between his wife, daughter Sarah, 31, and son Steven, 22, and his two grandchildren Kieran, ten, and Liam, four.

Taking second position at the event was Lisa Sandford, of Rowden Hill, Chippenham who grabbed £740 worth of cash, and third was Jo Strange, of Downing Street, Chippenham, who collected £330 in fake notes.

A spokesman for the Emery Gate shopping centre which hosted the event, said: “We were really pleased with how the event went and the number of people who turned out to see it.”

After the three main competition winners had their time in the cash tent, the general public were allowed to have a go against the clock.

The winner was young Jack Corcoran, pictured left, from Chippenham, who won himself a hamper after grabbing the most amount of cash.