Former Edinburgh binman scoops £62k win on the horses after £5 bet

Glemm Purves also won £10,000 on an accumulator in August.

Glemm celebrates with some whisky.

A former Edinburgh binman has scooped more than £62,000 on the horses from just a £5 bet.

Glemm Purves, who toiled for 20 years emptying bins in the Capital where he relished in the nickname ‘Noddy,' now suffers from ill health.

But the 72-year-old, who is partially sighted and studies using a magnifying glass, is now in the money - and the first thing on his shopping list is a pair of £1,000 Cartier glasses.

Biggest win

Bachelor Glemm, who retired to Wetherby in Yorkshire, said: "My winning system, which I’ve been sticking with since I was 19 when I had my first bet, is to go with accumulators choosing mainly favourites and the odd outsider. This has been my biggest win, but I picked up £10,000 on an eight-fold acca in August and earlier this month won £1,000 on the Irish Lottery."

He continued: “Being a binman in Edinburgh for 20 years starting at 5.30am every day has taken its toll on my health. I have a stick to help me walk and suffer from angina. It was tough on the bins in those days, even if we finished at 1pm because it wasn’t these wheelie bins like now but big heavy metal ones you had to physically lift up and empty.

"If I won £100,000 I wouldn’t raise an eyelid because I can’t really celebrate for health reasons. The £60,000 will be going in the bank and I am going to get some new specs. I already have Porsche designer frames, but I’m now going to get some Cartier ones which cost £1,000.

“I can only see properly in one eye, and when I am studying form in the newspaper at home I use a magnifying glass. Don’t worry about it – I can see the odds, and I guess that’s obvious when I keep winning like this."

Windfall trebled

Liverpool fan Glemm thought he’d won £20,000 from his eight-fold accumulator. But given Betfred’s best starting odds guaranteed promotion, his windfall was trebled to a whopping £62,226.

The biggest change was on De Plotting Shed, who he backed at 15/2 in the 1.10 at Plumpton last Sunday before he drifted to 16/1, which significantly boosted his potential winnings.

Glemm was at home, a mile away from the Betfred shop in Wetherby where he placed the bet, when his eight selections from Plumpton, Southwell and Naas were all first past the post.

As well as De Plotting Shed, Highway One O Two, Cat Tiger and Lightly Squeeze all triumphed at Plumpton, while Envoi Allen and Asterion Forlonge won at Naas in Ireland– and Noble Behest and Suitcase ‘N’ Taxi were also first past the post at Southwell.

Tough life

Glemm said that, all afternoon on Sunday the races were on TV but he didn't watch until the last one.

He said: "I never expected it to be over £60,000 from just a fiver.

"Why didn’t I watch the races? Well, I didn’t want to jinx my bet, and it could have brought on a heart attack – and that wouldn’t have done me any good.

"I have had a tough life, from my days on the bins when everybody called me Noddy. Don’t ask me why I was called Noddy, because I never found out. But what I do know is that those fellas on my round had a nasty sense of humour!

"I do have good days, and that was the case last Sunday when I treated myself to a double whisky at home knowing I’d hit the jackpot."

Betfred boss Fred Done, who arranged for Glemm to be given a bottle of whisky as well as traditional champagne when he celebrated his good fortune at the shop, said: “What a tremendous return for a loyal customer. He beat odds of nearly 13,000/1 to win so much from just a fiver.

“Glemm is a loyal Betfred customer who deserves his big win which has given him a brilliant start to 2020."