Eliot scoops Star prize

FAMILY man Eliot Sayer is full of jubilation today, after driving off with the top prize in the Evening Star's popular Win a Car competition.

Tension mounted as the ten lucky finalists waited in the sunshine outside Turners Hyundai, in Ipswich, to open the golden envelopes that sealed the fate of a luxury Hyundai Matrix.

Each contestant had earlier selected a number in a lucky dip that was exchanged for a corresponding car key. Inside each car was a golden envelope containing a cheque for £100, or the star prize.

Among the frenzied ripping of envelopes, Mr Sayer, from Ikon remained "as cool as a cucumber" as he tore open his envelope to reveal the winning ticket.

An atmosphere of anxiety surrounded the other finalists as they held up their cheque prizes and looked around to see who would scoop the £11,000 car.

Meanwhile, the father-of-three was quietly encouraging his reluctant son to announce he had won, but in the end Mr Sayer gave in and waved the winning ticket in the air for all to see.

"It was a good competition and I was excited whilst opening the envelope, but wasn't nervous," said Mr Sayer who appeared to be a little stunned by his good fortune on Saturday.

"It's very nice to win and I do feel a little sorry for the other finalists, but we would have been happy with £100 so the car is an added bonus."

In a scene reminiscent of TV classic Family Fortunes, his wife Kate, and three children - Jack, eight, Alex, five, and three-year-old Imogen - all climbed into the car to check out its array of gadgets.

Austin Dack, brand manager for the Evening Star, said it had been a fantastic competition.

He said: "This was the third car Turners have let us give away in three years.

"We had more than 25,000 entries over the years, and are thrilled to be handing this car over to Sayer family."