The posts, which encourage others to copy and paste the content in order to share it more widely, say: “Police say if you see a dog locked in a car in case of high heat, take a picture of the dog and the car, call the police, wait 5 minutes and break the car window.
But this isn’t true. The National Police Chiefs’ Council told Full Fact that the information shared online is “not accurate”. “If you see a dog in a hot car that appears to be in distress and/or showing symptoms of heatstroke you should call 999 and ask for the police.” The RSPCA's advice in an emergency is to call 999 and ask for the police, as the RSPCA may not be able to attend quickly enough and has no powers of entry so would need police assistance anyway.: “If the dog's condition is critical, and the police haven't arrived yet, your instinct will be to break into the car to free them. But please be aware that this could be classed as criminal damage.