London - A British woman scored a spectacular "bra-wars" victory Friday when the country's biggest fashion and lingerie retailer retreated from charging extra for larger bust sizes, declaring: "We boobed."

Beckie Williams, 26, from Brighton, had threatened to confront the top executives of the Marks & Spencer (M&S) chain over the issue at a forthcoming annual meeting, for which she equipped herself with a single M&S share.

But on Friday, acutely aware of the growing success of Williams' campaign, and the potential damage it could do to business, M&S launched a large-scale advertising campaign to announce that a surcharge of 2 pounds (3 dollars) for sizes above a DD cup would be scrapped.

"Well, we were wrong... the storm in a D cup is over!" said the full-page newspaper advertisements displaying a model wearing a green silky low-cut bra and declaring: "We boobed."

The surcharge will be cancelled from Saturday, and for the next two weeks, all bras will be sold at a 25-per-cent discount for two weeks.

M&S had argued that making bigger bras cost more money, but retreated in the face of the rapid growth of Williams' "Busts 4 Justice" campaign which gained more than
13,000 supporters.

"We've heard what our customers are telling us that they are unhappy with the pricing on our DD-plus bras and that basically we've boobed," a spokesman for M&S said Friday.

Williams, wearer of a size G cup, said: "This is absolutely fantastic news. I just want to thank all the women who have stood up for what they believe in." (dpa)