A woman was left shocked after watching a stranger break into her garden to steal water from her hose during the ban.
The Buckinghamshire resident has now warned others to keep their garden gates locked and their eyes open for brazen thieves after she watched the ordeal unfold during the recent heatwave.
Posting in the community Facebook group for Stokenchurch, a village in South West Buckinghamshire close to High Wycombe, she described seeing the bold man filling up several water containers from her hosepipe.
In the picture shared by the woman, which seems to be a CCTV image, a man is standing in a garden with four containers on the ground next to him, reports the Sun.
The end of the woman's hose can be seen in one of the containers, presumably filling it up with water.
Writing in the Facebook group so other locals would be on their guard, the woman said: “Some cheeky b**** came into my garden today and filled up his watering containers, caught on camera, make sure your gates are fully locked.
“Won’t be doing it again as tap will now be turned off."
The woman added that she's "sick" of having to "nail everything down or lock everything up like fort knox”.
The UK saw temperatures soaring across the country last week and droughts were declared in eight areas in England.
Much of the UK has seen the driest July since 1935 and many reservoirs have been badly affected.
The hot weather is now coming to an end as the Met Office has issued yellow weather warnings for thunderstorms and heavy rain across the UK this week.
But despite the end to the dry weather, this isn't expected to be enough to replenish the country's low water supplies.
Hosepipe bans have already come into effect in some areas of the country, and more will be imposed in the coming days and weeks.
