In article .com,
Sacha wrote:

(snip)

Who would do such a thing?

Whoever these people are - and they are almost certainly people who
already have a grudge against their neighbour - they had better be sure
that they can prove that the hose was being used for one of the very
few illegal uses under a so-called "hosepipe ban".

Dozens of hose uses are perfectly legal under these daft restrictions,
including water fights, washing paths, patios and windows, hosing down
the dog and filling watering cans, water butts and any other unplanted
container you can find.

In other words, the snitchers who report the "waterhogs" will need
clear photographic evidence because the defence is otherwise too
simple, ie: I was only having a perfectly legal garden shower, m'lud.

In view of the anomalies of the hosepipe law (Water Industry Act 1991),
it is almost impossible to imagine that any case could succeed so - as
with so much else of their scare-mongering - the water compnaies'
threats of £1000 fines are just bully talk.

(Btw, as a Thames Water customer I have heard a rumour that I may have
been subject to a hosepipe ban since April 3 - but so far I have not
received any such notification from Thames Water, so I assume either
that the rumour was unfounded or that I - and everyone else I know who
is a Thames Water customer - am exempt from the restriction.)