THERE are just a few hours left for the winner of a £1.9 million Torfaen lottery prize to come forward and claim their prize.

But hopes are now fading that the person who bought the winning ticket from a lottery outlet in Blaenavon, Pontypool or Cwmbran for the November 30 draw will beat the deadline to claim: 11pm tonight.

The unclaimed, life-changing win was revealed in the Argus on December 28 last year, and has since then had large amounts of media coverage in other newspapers, on TV and radio.

Yet still, no one has come forward. And if they do not by 11pm, the cash will go back into the National Lottery good causes fund.

A spokesman for the National Lottery said: "There's been a great deal of publicity about the ticket. We have tried to make people aware that this ticket is outstanding. "It's been on TV and radio as well as in newspapers like the Argus."

But despite the repeated appeals the person who bought the ticket still remains a mystery.

Earlier this year in a desperate attempt to publicise the fact the winner still hadn't come forward, Camelot suggested it may have been a police officer from Cwmbran's police training centre who bought the ticket.

But an appeal to police in nine force areas throughout the country whose officers were trained at an academy in Cwmbran at the time, drew a blank.

Linda Fitzgerald, (pictured) manager of the nearby Spar store in Fairwater, Cwmbran, said: "There was some excitement here when it was reported the ticket may have been bought near the police college. All the customers have been talking about it.

"People can't believe that someone would lose the ticket. I mean, you would look religiously for it, wouldn't you? It would be lovely if we had the winning ticket here - the biggest win we've had was four numbers."

In the latest publicity exercise, Big Pit, Blaenavon, was used to highlight the outstanding unclaimed prize.

Kathryn Stowers, of Big Pit, said: "The week of the draw was the last week that Big Pit was open before our two-month winter shutdown.

"We have many regular visitors and some may have brought children here as an early Christmas treat and they might recall buying a ticket as part of that special day out."