Broadback wrote:
snip
When there is a hose ban, hoses are banned, end of story. Last year a
lady got prosecuted for using a hose connected to a rain barrel, nuts!

It may depend on the local authority but "see today's Daily Mail".
Someone sent in a letter about this very problem, saying that it took
him some time but eventualy he got HIS authority to acknowledge that a
hosepipe ban applied to a hose attached to a tap and that he was able
to go on using a water butt.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon