A DOG owner has claimed a pet superstore threatened to keep his pet after he turned up late to collect it from a grooming session.

Derek Greenway said Pets at Home, in Idle, refused to give him his six-year-old Shih Tzu, called Marley, back when he went to collect him from the shop’s Groom Room.

The 56-year-old accused the manager of threatening to hold onto his dog because he was nearly two hours late, and asking him to pay a £15 late fee under the company’s terms and conditions – which he said he had not been aware of.

Mr Greenway said he had misheard when to collect his pet, and that he was 50 minutes – not two hours late – and refused to pay up.

“They told me to pick my dog up at 11am, but I misheard. They were holding my dog to ransom,” he said.

Pets at Home, which has three shops in the district, said Mr Greenway was a regular customer but repeatedly picked Marley up late from the Groom Room.

On this occasion, they felt it was necessary he stumped up the cash.

Mr Greenway said: “I knew absolutely nothing about a late fee. When I refused to pay, the store manager said ‘in that case we are not giving you your dog. We are going to keep your dog’.

“I burst out laughing and said ‘I am going to phone the police’.

“When I said that they told me ‘you can take your dog but don’t ever come back’.

“It was a threat that they were going to keep my dog.”

Mr Greenway said the confusion on his part started when he was given a time to pick up Marley.

He said he thought he had been told to pick Marley up at noon after he dropped him off at 9am last Wednesday.

A Pets at Home spokesperson said they were willing to speak with Mr Greenway about the dispute.

They added: “It is disappointing that Mr Greenway feels upset.

“Our policy and customer contract clearly state there is a charge for the late collection of dogs from our Groom Room.

“Given how very late the pickup was, we feel it was fair to ask that the charge was paid and rest assured, Marley did return home with Mr Greenway.

“We would be happy to speak to Mr Greenway in person, to clarify any other queries he might have and welcome him and Marley back to the Groom Room.”