A shop that sold a £79,887 winning lottery ticket has been suspended from selling them after a member of staff allegedly paid out only £10 on the win.

Police have been called in to find out if any fraud was involved and a shop worker is said to have been sacked.

The buyer, 24-year-old Callum Crosier, did not realise how much the syndicate he manages had won until friends at work pointed out they were due a big payout.

At the centre of the investigations is Moores Convenience Store, in Mackenzie Way, Gravesend.

Mr Crosier has been running the syndicate of 28 friends and colleagues since February. They all work for Morrison Utility Contractors, in Chatham.

The group's win on the May 12 Saturday draw was worth £2,853 to each of the members after they matched five numbers and the bonus ball.

Camelot and Kent Police confirmed that a Gravesend retailer has been suspended amid fraud investigations.

A Kent Police spokesman said: “We received a report of an allegation of possible fraud in relation to a winning National Lottery ticket in the Gravesend area on May 31, 2012.

“Officers are working closely with Camelot and investigating the claims.”

At Moores, sales of lottery tickets have ceased. A handwritten sign advised regulars this week the terminal was not in use.

Moores Convenience Stores where the winning lottery ticket was sold

A member of staff admitted its use had been stopped by Camelot.

He said: “We didn’t know about it until that bloke came in three days later and said he had won a big sum.”

He said it was all a mistake by an employee who had been sacked a few days after the incident.

When the alarm was raised they searched through the rubbish and found the winning ticket.

“It has all been sorted now, luckily, but I didn’t sleep for two days worrying about it. Thank God we found it.”

The syndicate has been paid its winnings and there were smiles all round as they posed for publicity pictures. Most of the group has decided to spend the cash on weddings, computers, holidays or investments.

Mr Crosier said: “Initially I thought we’d matched five numbers so I told the rest of the syndicate that we’d won around £1,000 and everyone was really excited.

“Then I noticed we had the bonus ball too so it meant we had won a lot more – then the whole office went mental and were hugging each other.”

He added: “We’ve only been playing in a syndicate since February so we weren’t expecting to win anything for a while so this is great.

“I’m a Chelsea fan so I’ve bought my season ticket in one go and a laptop but obviously we’d love to win really big. We’ll keep playing and who knows, maybe next time it will be £79 million!”