Police warn 'do not snitch' as hosepipe bans come into force for 34C heatwave

Nosy neighbours have been warned by police not to snitch on people as a hosepipe ban comes into force in parts of the country, with temperatures set to hit 33C today.

Months of extremely hot and dry weather across England has led Yorkshire Water to introduce the ban which will affect more than 5.7million homes in Yorkshire, Derbyshire and North Lincolnshire. And South East Water has now followed suit for customers in Kent and Sussex, with more high temperatures forecast over the weekend.

Temperatures could reach 33C in parts of central and southern England on Friday and are expected to remain high into the weekend, with an amber heat health alert in place across the East Midlands, West Midlands, South East, South West, East of England and London until 9am on Monday.

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Police have now urged anyone reporting a breach of the ban to go to the water company - as police phone lines "are for emergencies".

A spokesperson for West Yorkshire Police said: "Our phone lines are for emergencies - not for reporting hosepipe ban breaches! Any call made to the police about this could divert our call handlers away from dealing with real emergencies.

"So, if you have any questions about the restrictions, or any concerns about a potential breach, we would please ask that you follow the latest advice from Yorkshire Water, or your water provider." They added: "Let's keep our colleagues free to take genuine calls from those really in need of help."

Yorkshire Water’s director of water, Dave Kaye, said the region entered drought status in June. "Introducing these restrictions is not a decision we have taken lightly, and we’ve been doing everything we can to avoid having to put them in place," he said.

"Our region experienced an extremely dry spring, which resulted in the region entering drought status in June. Usually, spring is a time when our groundwater sources and reservoirs continue to be topped up by changeable weather, but this has not been the case in 2025, with our reservoir stocks falling since the last week of January."

Today, Yorkshire Water brings in restrictions on using hosepipes for activities such as watering the garden, cleaning cars and filling paddling pools, which it said is part of its efforts to protect supplies in the face of yet more dry weather forecast for the coming weeks.

Customers who ignore the ban could face fines of up to £1,000, but the firm previously said “we hope it won’t come to that” as it urged households to help conserve water by sticking to the restrictions.

Possible highs of 34C are on the cards for Saturday, according to the Met Office's latest predictions. “For the next three days or so, high pressure is in charge across the UK, bringing in relatively settled conditions,” Met Office meteorologist Craig Snell said.

“As we go into Sunday, the eastern half of the UK might start to just cool down a tad. It’s still going to be very warm, but could jump down a degree or two.

“In the second half of the weekend some coastal areas, like the North Sea coast, may turn a little bit murky at times, but the weekend is generally hot and sunny for most parts of the country. That will obviously come with very high UV levels for most of us and also very high grass pollen levels, so not great news for hayfever sufferers.”