The owner of a dog seemingly left locked inside his car on a sweltering hot day, says the woman who called the police got the wrong end of the stick.

The driver spoke out after being attacked by dozens of posts on a social media site where the photo of his car first appeared.

The man said the car was left in a Wisbech car park in the shade and prior to arriving there the air conditioning in his vehicle had been running for over an hour.

"I popped in (to Tesco) for 10 minutes to get milk; the car was still cooler inside than out."

He said his dog was "fine" when he returned.

"It was made to sound like she was in distress which could not be further from the truth," he said.

"I would not now or ever put her in any danger. I left the windows shut because the car was cooler than outside and I wanted to keep it that way.

"I can understand the woman being concerned but I swear my dog was never in danger and the woman has jumped on the band wagon over this issue."

Elsewhere in Cambridgeshire, however, police have expressed concern about times when dog owners have been more careless.

This week is one of the hottest of the years, said a police spokesman, and "we're still getting reports of dogs being left in cars/"

On Tuesday the spokesman said they received calls about one dog left in a car at Peterborough and another left in a car in Chatteris.

The previous day they had received a call about a dog trapped in a car at Tydd St Giles near Wisbech.

The spokesman said: "We're not sure we can be much clearer - dogs die in hot cars.

"If it's 22 degrees outside, the temperature inside a car can reach 47 degrees within the hour.

"Please never leave your dog in the car on a hot day. If you see a dog in distress in a hot car, call 999."

Police say the most common kind of animal cruelty is dogs being left in vehicles.

Being in the heat is tough for dogs because they can only cool themselves by panting and sweating through their paw pads. In hot stuffy cars dogs can't cool down and leaving a window open or a sunshield on windscreens often does not keep your car cool enough.

Signs of a dog in distress can include heavy panting, salivation, a rapid pulse, very red gums and tongue, lethargy, vomiting, diarrhoea and lack of coordination.