Dog eats QPR fan's tickets, but he gets new ones thanks to...

It's the time-worn excuse that students give to teachers whenever uncompleted homework is due.

But for one QPR fan, it became his worst nightmare.

The fan, who goes by S Michail on Twitter, went to collect his mail when he discovered that his dog got there first - and mauled his tickets to QPR's Championship promotion play-off final against Derby County at Wembley.

Resigned to his fate, Michail posted a picture of the destroyed tickets on Twitter, where it caught the attention of QPR striker Charlie Austin.

While it's easy to forget that footballers are human beings too (I'm looking at you, Yaya Toure), Austin did what any good man would do - he helped the poor guy.

After the striker and other QPR fans' tweets, the club promptly responded and issued new tickets for him.

So there was a happy ending for everyone...

...Except for the culprit, who was forced by Michail's brother to issue this grovelling apology on Twitter.

Sources: Twitter, Mail Online