Police rescue dog left tied up in the cold and dark outside shop in Milton Keynes

The grateful crossbreed was rescued by neighbourhood police officers and kept it a warm police car on Sunday evening until the dog warden arrived.

It is now at local kennels while enquiries continue to trace the owner. If not claimed by next Sunday and if no new home is found, he could be destroyed.

Meanwhile police have published CCTV footage of a person tying up the dog and leaving it outside the shops at Beanhill.

Officers attended after members of the public reported the animal had been left there for more than two hours.

A police spokesman said: "If you recognise the dog, the dog warden would like to hear from you."

The warden contracted by the council to collect stray and abandoned animals in Mk is part of Noah’s Ark Environmental Services.

They can be contacted on 0333 5775070 during office hours or 0844 4996063 at evenings and weekends.

If your dog is found and collected by Noah’s Ark Environmental Services, you will be expected to pay kennelling costs £17 per day, a collection fee of £65 if picked up from the service's van, and a statutory fine of £25.

Stray dogs are kept for 7 days before either being re-homed or destroyed.