A PARKING company has done a u-turn over a £100 fine they levied against a Southampton man who was trying to report a terrible crime to police.

As reported by the Daily Echo, the 32-year-old man received the penalty from Premier Park Ltd while waiting in a car park with a female friend at Easygym in Shirley to meet police officers and report her rape.

Despite writing to the company to explain the circumstances and lodging an appeal, Premier Park insisted he still had to pay up, telling the Daily Echo yesterday an independent appeal had been rejected.

But today the fine has been waived after “mitigating evidence” was presented to the firm.

A Premier Park spokesman said: "A parking charge was issued to a vehicle which had entered and stayed in the car park in excess of a 40-minute period without registering.

"This appeal was also rejected by POPLA. Despite the charge being issued correctly, due to additional, mitigating evidence being supplied we have now cancelled the charge, but would advise anyone receiving a charge to appeal promptly and include all relevant evidence in their appeal."

The man, who lives in St Mary's, said it was fantastic news and added he hoped is situation would inspire other people to fight back against big companies when in a dispute.

He said: “This is brilliant news. I did not know what the outcome would be, I was just hoping to raise awareness and it is a shame it had to come to this to get a fair result.”

The pair cannot be named for legal reasons.