Luck struck two St. Jerome, Quebec (near Montreal) girls when they discovered a winning Tim Hortons coffee cup yesterday, but now their families are fighting over who gets the prize. The dispute began after a 10-year-old girl named Marilou found the cup in the garbage bin of her primary school. Remembering the doughnut chain's popular contest, she tried to roll up the rim. Her small fingers were unable to loosen the tough cardboard, so she enlisted the help of a 12-year-old schoolmate. The other girl rolled up the rim and found it was a winner, entitlement to a Toyota RAV4 SUV - base price $28,700 - one of 30 automobiles being given away as prizes.
"They took the cup to the school's daycare service, and a teacher called both parents," said Nathalie Prevost, mother of the 12-year-old girl. Prevost would not reveal her daughter's name.
"The first parent to arrive there was Marilou's father, so he took the cup."
Prevost thought her daughter's helping hand deserved some recognition, however, so she phoned a local radio station to ask for legal advice.
"I wanted the name of a lawyer who could tell me if my daughter is entitled some of the prize," Prevost said.
That's when the story became a media sensation.
Marilou's father, who remained anonymous, said in a televised broadcast he wanted to give some money from the sale of the car to Prevost's family.
"But this morning they said (on the radio) they wanted everything, so now they'll lose it all because they went too far," he said.
Prevost countered she's not seeking a specific amount.
"It's not for me, it's for my daughter's education," she said.
"I never wanted this to blow up the way it has."
Tim Hortons spokesperson Greg Skinner could not confirm the cup was a winner, because the prize had not been claimed.
But he said the winner of the prize is whoever submits the cup's tab.
"If I buy you a coffee and you get a winning cup, it's your car," Skinner said. "I might be mad at you as your best friend, but you're the winner."
Because the girls are minors, he noted, neither of them can claim the RAV4 as a prize. Prevost said she doesn't plan to go to court but hopes the other family will find it in their hearts to recognize her daughter's part in their luck.
"At least I hope the parents save the money for their daughter's education and don't spend it themselves," she said.
As for the girls, they had a bit of a spat at school, but their teachers got them on speaking terms again, Prevost said.
"They weren't very close friends to begin with," she said.
(yeesh! people it's not macro-science, sell the goddam SUV and split the proceeds 50/50. The only problem I've ever had is feeling ripped off when the free tea biscuit I won was much smaller than the regular ones.)
Update: the situation could get more complicated.
CBC-TV's The National reported last night that a staff member who may have thrown the cup away is said to be considering legal action.
But it would a tough battle.
"The person who threw out that coffee cup, they gave up on it. It's gone, you cannot find who it was," a lawyer said.
Later,
Kenaz
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