Refusing to drop this, the animal-lover phoned the SPCA's head office and was put through to Marcie Moriarty, the Manager of Cruelty Investigations, who admitted that the Surrey SPCA can respond to reports of dogs locked in cars in hot weather.

Moriarty said that staff don't know all the rules, that there are too many complaints to keep up with and they are just too busy because the government does not give them enough funding to do all they have to do, especially answer the phone.