POLICE were forced to smash the window of a locked car parked outside Asda in order release a distressed dog inside the vehicle on Thursday.

Worried passers-by spotted the labradoodle on the parcel shelf of the black Mercedes sedan with the windows wound up in Burnley.

Police said the dog appeared “very distressed” when they arrived on the scene at about 2.45pm.

The dog was in the front passenger footwell of the car and appeared to be trying to hold its breath. Officers are unclear as to how long the dog had been left alone in the car.

After several unsuccessful attempts to contact the owners of vehicle the Police Officers smashed a rear passenger window of the vehicle and removed the dog from the car.

The owner of the dog has been laughed at by officers from the Burnley Police Department  who have recommended a good mobile valeting service in the town.

A passerby said: “It was a bit smelly in there and no water had been left for the dog in the vehicle.”

“I don’t know what that dog had eaten but I think whoever owns that car is going to need more than a basic valet.”

A spokesman for The Greater Burnley Police, Police Community Support Officer Dan Brierley said: “This is at least the fifteenth time this week that officers in Burnley have responded to an incident of a dog crapping on the parcel shelf of a car in a supermarket carpark.”

“Seriously walk your dogs.”

Quentin D Fortesqueue is a founding editor of The Rochdale Herald. Part time amateur narcissist and full time satirist Quentin is never happier than when playing his lute and drinking a full bodied Bordeaux. He rarely plays the lute and never gets to drink Bordeaux.