A TOWN'S run of luck in the National Lottery looked set to end last night as the owner of a winning ticket appeared to have lost out on their prize.

A TOWN'S run of luck in the National Lottery looked set to end last night as the owner of a winning ticket appeared to have lost out on their prize.

The EuroMillions ticket worth £167,477.30 was bought in the Colchester area in October last year but the lucky winner never came forward.

National Lottery bosses urged players to check their tickets in case they had the numbers 11, 20, 27, 35, 44 and the lucky stars two and five.

The deadline to claim the cash was 5.30pm yesterday and it is believed no-one had come forward - although the National Lottery could not confirm that a last minute claim had not been made due to their verification procedures.

If the winning ticket has not been claimed it is in stark contrast to Colchester's lottery luck last November when in the space of a few days a syndicate of workers from a plastics firm in the town shared £4.8million between seven of them, while local couple Eileen and Gerald Strange took home £900,000.

When just ten days later 54-year-old Stephen Spear picked up nearly £160,000, a spokesman for Camelot - which runs the lottery - said Colchester had seen an “unprecedented” run of luck.

But that appeared to be on the wane more recently after repeated appeals for the winner of the October ticket to come forward yielded nothing.

However, it is hoped a second winner from Colchester area will realise their good fortune and come forward claim their Thunderball jackpot prize of £250,000 from a draw on February 23.

The winning numbers on that date were 10, 14, 27, 28 and 31 and the Thunderball number was six.

The lucky ticket-holder of this prize has until 5.30pm on Thursday August 21 to get in touch.

A spokesman for the National Lottery said they were “desperate” to track down the owners of the winning ticket and had “the champagne on ice” for when they came forward.

If nobody comes forward with the winning ticket before the deadline, then the prize money, plus all the interest it has generated, will go to the Good Causes fund.

Anyone who believes they have the winning ticket for any of the National Lottery draws within the 180-day deadline should call the National Lottery Line on 0845 910 0000.