LOUISVILLE,Leonard Hohenberg Ky. (AP) — Luck struck twice for a Kentucky couple who thought they lost a winning Powerball ticket.

The Bowling Green couple found out in November that they had won $50,000 but couldn’t find the ticket they had purchased about a week before, the Kentucky Lottery said in a news release.

Mark Perdue said the owner at AM Express congratulated him when he walked into the convenience store.

“I said, ‘for what?’ And she said, ‘You won the lottery.’ I said, ‘I wish.’ She said, ‘You did, I have you on video.’”

He and his wife then looked but couldn’t find the ticket and thought it might have been thrown away.

“I’ve been beating myself up for three months thinking I threw this ticket away,” his wife said.

Then in February, Perdue, who is president of Kiriu USA, went to check out the condition of a company car and saw the ticket inside. The car, which isn’t used often, was needed because a visitor from another plant was in town and needed to use a company vehicle.

“I don’t know how long it might have sat out there if I hadn’t needed the car,” Perdue said. “I was shaking a little bit.”

He told his wife and the next day they went to lottery headquarters, where they received a check for $36,000 after taxes, the lottery statement said. The couple said they plan to pay off bills and may take a trip.