A dog was left ‘crying and howling’ inside a hot car in a Sainsbury’s car park as temperatures soared to 75F.

Photos taken of the dog by concerned witnesses show it looking distressed and poking its nose out of a part-open window in the rear of the car.

In another picture the wide-eyed dog is seen clamping its teeth down on the top of the window.

After 20 minutes the poor dog’s owner returned and let it out of the car.

The poor dog was howling and crying after being left in the car by its owner in Sherborne

A witness who did not want to be named told Somerset Live: ‘I could hear the dog crying and howling and I could see the window was only cracked open a little bit.

‘I timed how long the dog was in the car for and it was 20 minutes until the owner came to the car to let the dog out.’

Multiple announcements were made over the tannoy at the Sainsbury’s store, which is located in Sherborne, Dorset, asking for the dog to be let out between 2.30pm and 3pm yesterday.

Steve Poole, assistant manager of the store said: ‘We take animal cruelty very seriously. We acted as quickly as we could.

‘Multiple announcements were made over the tannoy after a customer reported the dog was left in the car at our customer services.

‘Sometimes our car park is used by people going to Sherborne town centre. They might have been visiting other shops. If they were in our store they chose to ignore the tannoy.’