A MAN is waiting to discover if his legal bid to force a national newspaper group to pay him £50,000 in a dispute over a scratchcard competition has been successful.

Mirror Group Newspapers were taken to the Appeal Court by Lee O'Brien of Hebden Court, Halliwell.

Mr O'Brien, was delighted when he phoned up the Mirror's premium rate prize line on July 3, 1995, and was told he had won the £50,000 jackpot on the paper's "Mirror Instant Scratch" game, with the card he got in The People Newspaper on June 25.

But he and 1,472 other players, who thought they were lucky, were devastated when told they had only won the chance to enter a prize draw -- with odds of 1,472 to one against.

Due to a mistake, instead of one or two winners on July 3, lines were clogged by nearly 1,500 readers claiming the £50,000 jackpot.

Mirror Group, who advertised "1000s of prizes" and "star prizes to be won starting at a massive £50,000" are relying on a "small print" disclaimer which stated: "Should any more prizes be claimed in any prize category than are available, a single draw will take place for the prize".

The disclaimer was printed 11 times in the 66 days the game ran, and Mirror Group says it absolves them of responsibility for paying out the prizes.

Mr O'Brien, aged 34, who has had one legal bid to claim his payout refused at Manchester Mercantile Court already, challenged that decision at the Court of Appeal yesterday.

He had just lost his job, suffered a nervous breakdown, and was caring for a cancer sufferer when he thought he had won.

Another three "winners" have brought legal proceedings against Mirror Group since then, and hundreds have sought legal aid to pursue claims.

Jonathan Crystal, for Mr O'Brien, told the court the "hyperbolic terms in which the game was publicised" were "taken away completely by the contractual small print below".

He said: "For people like Mr O'Brien, it is perhaps the single time in their lives when he thought fortune had shone on him.

"It clearly caused a great deal of disappointment -- people thought they had won, and the fact that there were more than one or two cardholders is hardly the fault of the participants.

"He was told unconditionally on the phone 'you have won that amount'.

"If you are going to run that sort of competition where a winner can be a loser, you would expect the participants to be told every day."

But Christopher Carr QC, for Mirror Group, said the group had "done what was reasonably sufficient" to let players know what the conditions were.

Lord Justice Potter, sitting with Lady Justice Hale and and Judge Sir Anthony Evans reserved their decision after a day of legal argument. They said they would give their ruling as soon as possible.