You are wrong.

Found this query on another site...

Safron16

26th April 2011, 16:41

I have today found slips I had thought lost forever from the 1986 Grand National.
The tickets are fully readable and I have bets on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd placed runners.
I telephoned the local bookies and was given a number to telephone for customer services as they said I should still be able to claim by wending the tickets off.
I telephoned the number given and a very abrupt man informed me that they will only honour slips for a period of 3 weeks!!!

Who do I believe?

Small bookies like John Joyce and Gus Carter I'm sure you only had 7 days to redeem many years ago. Bit different now I assume with Ladbrokes and Corals et al.

Was so happy I nearly offered to buck her.

The bets are know in the industry as sleepers. Back in the eighties when I liked a bet, I went into Laddies in Ritherdon Road in Tooting Bec one Saturday morning. I had about £3 to me name to last a week until payday.

I only went in to see if there was anyone in I could borrow off or who owed me coin. Maira the Scots manageress was in the shop, she normally worked in the shop next to Balham Station. She says hello stranger, aint seen you in a while, and I says I is skint.

She says, funny that cos I just been looking through their sleepers in here and theres one looks like your handwriting been here ages, but Im not allowed to tell you what it is. So for about an hour I is sat there wracking me fucking brains trying to work out what it can be. I the end I gives up and says I will buy you a box of chocs ( she was a bit of a fattie ) if you let me look at it ( their copy of the slip ) for 10 seconds.

Eventually she gives in and shows me a slip where I'd had £40 each way on a horse of Toby Baldings. I says to her Mairi that finished fucking nowhere love. So she goes in the back room and pulls out their box of old Sporting Life newsapapers ( this was the days before computers ) and says there you go check for yourself.

I could barely thumb through them me hands was shaking somuch, even though I knew in me heart the horse had been well beaten cos I could remember getting a tip for it and it ran like shyte. Anyhow I goes back about 6 weeks, finds the race, and the hourse has finished sixth at 12/1 , but been promoted to fourth after a couple of horses in front of it got disqualified for going the wrong side of a fence post or summat. 18 runner handicap, quarter the odds first four and I got £160 to come back. I nearly passed out, not cos of the amount but cos I was skinty malinty at the time.

Was so happy I nearly offered to buck her.

Nah, to be fair it was really decent of her, she could have lost her job over it.

What was annoying though, was the fact the manager who was normally in there, what I'd done a few good turns for , had never fucking mentioned it. I had him right over a few weeks later though.