A St Albans teenager and her boyfriend agonisingly missed out on the £182m EuroMillions jackpot when their numbers came up but their ticket payment failed.  

Rachel Kennedy, 19, who went to St Albans Girls' School, thought they had scooped the lot after their regular numbers were drawn on February 26.

But after ringing to claim the prize she was told that although her numbers were right, there wasn't enough money in their account and so the payment did not go through.

She and her boyfriend Liam McCrohan, 21, had played the same numbers five weeks running.

The pair told The Sun that after hearing they hadn't won Rachel was quite relaxed, but Liam had already spent the money in his head.

"I was absolutely heartbroken when we heard the man on the phone say we hadn’t actually bought the ticket," Liam said.

"I was already picturing our dream house and the dream car, I think I was getting a bit carried away to be fair."

He added that the app made it appear as if they won because it said 'winning match'.

A spokesman for Camelot, which runs the National Lottery, said: "We're aware of Rachel's story and hope she gets in early to buy a ticket for the next big draw."

Their numbers were 6, 12, 22, 29, 33, 6 and 11.