WARRNAMBOOL police have warned there's no excuse for parents to leave children unattended in cars and say those caught could be charged and taken to court.
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Police and emergency services were called to an incident on Saturday afternoon after reports three young children had been left unattended in a vehicle on Lava Street.
Sergeant Blake Amos, from Warrnambool police, said the vehicle had left by the time emergency services arrived.
"Leaving a child in a car is extremely irresponsible and dangerous," he said.
"There's no excuse for it.
"Especially given the summer period when the temperature rises dramatically."
It is against the law to leave a child unattended in a car and penalties include fines or up to six months in jail.
Director of emergency management for Ambulance Victoria Justin Dunlop said since Thursday there had been 24 calls for people left in cars across the state.
"It is absolutely imperative that you do not leave anyone in a car on a (hot) day," he said.
"Even if it is an accident it only takes minutes for people to die in the heat of a car."
According to a state government awareness campaign called Never Leave Kids in Cars, a child's body temperature rises three to five times faster than an adults' and on a mild day the temperature inside a parked car can be 20 to 30 degrees hotter than the outside temperature.
When it's 30 degrees outside, a child could be suffering in up to 60 degree heat and leaving the windows down has little effect on the inside temperature of the car.
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