A MAN has claimed victory in a battle with a parking company after he was wrongly accused of leaving his car at Southend Airport Retail Park for more than a day.

Barry Green, 40, visited the retail park on Wednesday, April 18, at 7.12pm and left about half an hour later after shopping in Argos.

He returned on Friday morning to visit Staples officer supplier, spent about half an hour there and left at 11.43am.

However, he was falsely accused of parking his green Honda Accord there between Wednesday evening and Friday morning and was fined £120, or £60 if he paid within 13 days.

The self-employed engraver, who had driven his niece to Colchester in the same car on the Thursday, vowed to fight his case with parking management company ParkingEye. On Friday he received a letter from the company cancelling the fine.

He said: “They dropped the charge, but I shouldn’t have had it in the first place. There was no explanation as to why they had fined me and no apology.

“I did demand compensation for all the time and effort I had to put in to get this overturned, but I am unlikely to get that, so won’t pursue it any further.”

Tony Strange, of Treecot Drive, Leigh, was also caught out by the CCTV cameras in the same retail park, where drivers are permitted to park for up to three hours.

He first went with his girlfriend to visit McDonalds just after 11pm on April 6.

The couple returned 36 hours later, but then received a £120 fine from ParkingEye, which claimed his silver Nissan Primera had been left in the car park over the weekend. He has also appealed his fine, but has yet to hear what the outcome will be.

A spokesperson for ParkingEye, said: “Mr Green followed our appeals process and we were happy to cancel his charge.

“We are still waiting for Mr Strange to send us more details.”