Watch As Stunned Dad Wins £75,000 BMW After Baby Survived Premature Birth {{favouriteCount}}

A father wept with joy as he was presented with his £75,000 "dream car" shortly after his severely premature baby was finally discharged from hospital.

Paresh Harji's son Dylan was born nine weeks early on Christmas Eve and was on life support at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital, where he had been transferred after contracting the serious intestinal disease necrotising enterocolitis (NEC).

He was finally discharged over Easter, meaning his 10-year-old sister Alisha could see her new brother in the flesh for the first time at the family home in Lyndhurst Gardens,Hounslow.

It was on Dylan's debut outing - a trip to Westfield shopping centre, in Sheperd's Bush - that his dad entered the Dream Car Competition, run by botb.com (Best of the Best).

Mr Harji had no idea he was the weekly winner until BOTB founder William Hindmarch appeared at his door on Tuesday morning (April 21) and led him to the metallic orange BMW M5.

The souped up motor is worth £75,000 and had a £10,000 CASH BONUS stored in the boot.

As they walked to the car, Mr Harji broke down in tears, the emotions of what he called a "challenging" last few months proving too much for him.

 He told getwestlondon: "We were out shopping with Dylan and a guy persuaded me to have a £50 flutter.

"While my wife was changing Dylan I decided to spend another £50.

"I can't believe I've won.

"It's great to have such a happy ending to what's been an incredibly challenging time for the family. I'm quite emotional.

"It was on Dylan's first trip out that I bought the tickets. He's obviously my lucky mascot."

The 40-year-old who works for Medequip Assistive Technology went on: "I've always wanted a 5-series BMW but never thought I'd be able to afford one.

"It is even in my favourite colour.

"I was about to start painting the hall when the bell rang but I think that can wait for a while now."

Mr Harji's wife Amital said it had been very difficult keeping his success a secret from him.

"I got a call from my manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers saying they'd had a weird call from the competition organisers which they thought might be a hoax, but thankfully it wasn't," she said.

"It's been so hard not letting on that anything was happening," she said.

Earlier this month, Fulham FC IT analyst Michael Akuamoah also scooped a dream car in the competition.

Back to Homepage 22 Nov 2021