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Press release

WANTED! 400,000 MISSING WINNERS OF PREMIUM BOND PRIZES WORTH £ 23.6 MILLION

16 July 2004

A coast to coast search is underway to find the missing winners of £23.6 million of unclaimed Premium Bond prizes. The 400,000 unclaimed prizes range in value from £25,000 to £25 and their owners reside all over the UK, and some abroad, according to National Savings and Investments (NS&I). (Bond numbers of high value unclaimed prizes are in the Notes to Editors).

Top ten UK regions for unclaimed Premium Bond prizes

	Region	Number of unclaimed prizes	Value of unclaimed prizes
1	Greater London	91,560	£5,463,800
2	Scotland	27,100	£1,587,350
3	Lancashire	19,659	£1,158,420
4	Yorkshire	18,442	£1,078,099
5	Wales	15,788	£929,350
6	Sussex	11,314	£671,000
7	Essex	10,889	£649,175
8	Kent	10,590	£620,125
9	Surrey	10,406	£609,825
10	Hampshire	10,113	£585,111

Recent NS&I research* revealed that one in six people who moved house in the last 12 months forgot to pass on their change of address details to all their financial providers. This is why prizes go unclaimed.

NS&I is keen to reunite winners with their prizes and urges customers to get back in touch and check if they are a winner.

There is no time limit on claiming. Each unclaimed prize is held until the winner can be tracked down. The oldest unclaimed prize dates back to the first draw in June 1957.

Some people might not be aware they have Premium Bonds, which are entered into the prize draw each month. They might not remember making their original investment or perhaps they, like many others, were given Premium Bonds as a child and have simply forgotten about them. There£s one teenager in Essex, for example, who doesn£t know they£ve won £10,000.

Gill Cattanach, NS&I commercial director said, "Our aim is to reunite Premium Bond customers with the £23.6 million in unclaimed prizes and we urge those customers who£ve forgotten to tell us they£ve changed address to get in touch to check if they are a winner."

If Premium Bond holders have changed their address and told NS&I, it£s unlikely that they have any unclaimed prizes, but if they think they have missed out on a Premium Bond prize either:

LOG ON TO
www.nsandi.com and use the Premium Bond prize checker. You will need your holder number.

WRITE TO
Premium Bonds
National Savings and Investments
Blackpool
FY3 9ZW

You will need to provide as many details as possible, such as past names and addresses if you do not know your bond or holder numbers.

VISIT A MAIN POST OFFICE

And ask to see the supplement to the London Gazette for a list of unclaimed prizes.

Ends

Notes to Editors

Highest value unclaimed Premium Bond prizes

Winning Bond number	Prize value	Date of Purchase	Area of purchase	Last known living in	Present holding	Current age
07KB745181	£25,000	1971	London TW	London E1	£22	26-35
11KB156268	£10,000	1980	Lichfield	Lichfield	£20	24-35
03DS884311	£10,000	1970	Derby	Derby	£1	65+
24KB509100	£10,000	1989	Ilford	Ilford	£10	16-25
36RF910299	£5,000	1994	Dorset	Dorset	£8,600	Unknown
03BW704726	£5,000	1972	York	Stratford-Upon-Avon	£203	Unknown
26XZ579029	£5,000	1994	London	London	£4,461	70
28PK991235	£5,000	1991	Colchester	Colchester	£1,200	Unknown
10LT976369	£5,000	1978	Hammersmith	Hammersmith	£50	Unknown
08EP999777	£5,000	1981	Newcastle	Newcastle	£15	17-25
04BB564177	£5,000	1972	Belfast	Belfast	£171	Unknown
08DS137312	£5,000	1988	Unknown	South Africa	£2,000	65+
07BN917085	£5,000	1976	London N19	London N19	£14	36-45
63YZ430355	£5,000	1999	Dartford	Dartford	£19,995	65+
03QL448423	£5,000	1965	Dartford	New Zealand	£75	Unknown
02MT341072	£5,000	1976	St Austell, Cornwall	St Austell, Cornwall	£30	Unknown
01DF230538	£5,000	1966	Newcastle	Newcastle	£4	36-45
03BB947910	£5,000	1970	London E12	London E12	£2	36-45
10VS930686	£5,000	1974	Sheffield	Sheffield	£100	Unknown
08FT480057	£5,000	1978	Hartlepool	Hartlepool	£20	Unknown
14XS489423	£5,000	1980	Grays, Essex	Grays, Essex	£600	Unknown
00BB435614	£5,000	1972	Eastbourne	Montrose	£2	Unknown
02LZ879618	£5,000	1958	Buckhurst Hill, Essex	Buckhurst Hill, Essex	£25	Unknown
01KS402526	£5,000	1957	London W11	London W11	£17	Unknown

* Research carried out by TNS PhoneBus, 7 - 9 May 2004 among 1,013 adults aged 16+. Respondents were asked "Have you moved home in the last 12 months?", "When you moved home, did you forget to forward your new address to any organisation that you have savings, investments or another financial product with?"

Premium bond prizes are classified as unclaimed if they have not been claimed 18 months after the Prize Draw in which they were won. NS&I make strenuous efforts to trace missing Premium Bond customers, usually those who have moved without forwarding change of address details.

FOR DETAILED REGIONAL DATA AND FURTHER INFORMATION ON UNCLAIMED PREMIUM BOND PRIZES CONTACT THE NS&I MEDIA TEAM. PHOTOGRAPHY AVAILABLE.

Mark Brooks	020 7348 9301	mark.brooks@nsandi.com
Jonathan Akerman	020 7348 9433	jonathan.akerman@nsandi.com
Elen Thomas	020 7348 9654	elen.thomask@nsandi.com
Wendy Franklin	020 7348 9449	wendy.franklin@nsandi.com
ISDN for interviews	020 7602 4522
Out of hours	All above numbers go to mobile phones staffed 24 hours

Media team
NS&I has a number of spokespeople available for interviews and our experienced radio team is available via our ISDN line: 020 7602 4522.

The numbers below are for media use only. Customers wishing to contact NS&I can find details here.

Gareth Headon		020 7348 9494
		gareth.headon@nsandi.com
Gill Stephens		020 7348 9449
		gill.stephens@nsandi.com
Iman Asante		020 7348 9301
		iman.asante@nsandi.com
Monica Del-Villar		020 7348 9654
		monica.del-villar@nsandi.com
ISDN for interviews		020 7602 4522
Out of hours		All numbers above diverted to staffed mobile phones

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