A dog-lover claims a border collie was left locked in a car outside a Toby Carvery restaurant for more than an hour.
The diner spotted the dog ‘panting like crazy’ inside the vehicle, which he says was parked in direct sunlight on the car park of the Trentham restaurant in Stoke on Trent.
Much of the UK is beginning to experience the start of a heatwave, with temperatures predicted to soar to as high as 29 degrees celsius this weekend.
The fellow dog-owner, from Brown Edge, had pulled up next to the car in question at 1.45pm on Wednesday, but was shocked to see the dog was still there after he finished his meal and returned to his vehicle.
The 42-year-old said: “When we first saw it and went in, we didn’t think too much of it.
"We came out, after nearly an hour and a half, it was still there. The windows were only slightly down.
"No water or nothing. It was parked in the middle of a car park with no shade.
“I got into our car and I was burning instantly, and our car had been there less time than theirs was. It couldn’t have been pleasant for the dog.”
In a bid to alert the owners, one of the group went to let the staff inside Toby Carvery know about the situation., but in the meantime, the owner of the car returned to the vehicle.
The worried diner told Stoke on Trent Live: “I was Googling what the law was, whether I can break the windows. Within about 10 minutes, two elderly women came out. We saw them coming to the car, they unlocked it.
“We said ‘It’s not ok to leave your dog in the car’. She just shrugged it off, she said ‘My dog always pants’.
"It was panting like crazy, it was hot.
“If the dog was flat on the back seat, you’ve got to act then. I would have put the window through, even if the law doesn’t allow it, at least you’ve done the right thing.”
The man hopes sharing the incident will warn other dog owners leaving their pets in danger.
He added: “This woman was not bothered at all, she didn’t care. It’s getting hotter and idiots are going to do it more.
"Hopefully this stops one or more idiots from doing something stupid.
“The more people that are reminded about it, the more it might save animal’s lives. It’s not OK to leave your dog inside a car, don’t do it.”
