Former RAF medic can clear debts after choosing £300k over Lamborghini

A former RAF medic can pay off his mortgage and clear his debts after winning £300,000 in a competition he entered for £4.28.

Ryan Briggs, 46, from Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, spent 23 years in the Royal Air Force, completing tours of Iraq and Afghanistan, before joining the NHS as a paramedic during the Covid-19 pandemic.

He was given the choice of a 2026 Lamborghini Temerario – worth an estimated £270,000 – or £300,000 in cash, after winning a competition organised by Elite Competitions, choosing the cash.

"I can now reduce my hours [at work] in the future if I wanted to. I'm fit and healthy now, but that can change. It takes a lot of pressure off," he said.

Ryan met his wife Kelly, a logistics mover, when they were both in the RAF, aged 19.

She left shortly after, and was planning to move back to northern Scotland - but instead the pair conducted a "shotgun wedding".

"It worked for us, because we are still happily married 27 years later," said Ryan, a father-of-two.

He said he had grown up with a "fascination" with planes after his father had taken him to air shows at RAF St Athan, in Vale of Glamorgan, inspiring him to join the RAF.

As well as Iraq and Afghanistan, he also served in the Caribbean during Hurricane Irma, a category five hurricane that killed 55 people when it hit the region in 2017.

He then moved into healthcare, following his mother, who was a nurse in Pembrokeshire.

Upon winning the competition, Ryan and Kelly were flown from Pembrokeshire to Blackpool Airport by helicopter to choose between the car and the cash.

Ryan said he had flown "pretty much every RAF helicopter you can think of" over the years, but "this one was a lot safer, more comfortable and definitely heading to a very different destination".

"The journey also wasn't in 40 to 50 degree Celsius heat," he said.

Despite being a fan of cars - particularly Lamborghinis, which he described as his "dream car" - Ryan made the "sensible decision" to take the money.

"Me and Kelly can now clear our debts, pay the rest of the mortgage off and treat our boys," he said, saying that moving around in the RAF, he had only recently managed to buy a home.

"Being able to pay our mortgage off at 46 is huge," he said.

Alex Beckett, chief executive of Elite Competitions, said Ryan had spent a lot of his life helping others, in the RAF and NHS.

"Knowing this prize will give them financial security after years of public service makes it an especially rewarding winning story," he said.