A SYNDICATE of Blackburn factory workers is believed to have won £1.65million on the lottery -- and still turned up for work this morning!

The employees at the Philips television components factory at Whitebirk hold a winning ticket from last night's £11.5million jackpot.

It is understood there are 11 members of the syndicate -- each winning £150,000.

The workers ticked off the numbers -- 6,11,19,23,25 and 28 -- as they were drawn last night. Their other colleagues in the syndicate found out as they arrived for work at the factory -- which is less than a mile from the former home of Blackburn's £18million rollover jackpot winner -- as normal early this morning.

Sarah Freeman, of the site's personnel department, today said none of the winning employees who were in work wanted to comment on their windfall.

A spokesman for Camelot today said that last night's ticketholders who had already claimed had asked for no publicity and could not confirm if a ticketholder from Blackburn had won.

The town has been home to a number of big lottery winners. A factory worker scooped £18million in a roll-over draw in 1994 and single mum Catherine Brindle won £2.2million in January 1995.