Thames Water have refused to disclose how many warnings have been given to Merton residents for using hosepipes during the ongoing ban.

A spokesman for the company said they believed releasing the figures would encourage people to act against, rather than with, the London-wide ban, which began on April 4.

Enforcing the ban requires residents to report hosepipe users to Thames Water, who send the transgressor a warning.

They could face a £1,000 fine if they continue to defy the ban.

The spokesman said: “It is something we are keeping internally. Fining people is the last resort for us.

“We want people to understand and work with us on this. Releasing the figures is not something that we are doing.

“We are not giving out that kind of information because it s not the message that we want to communicate.”

A reader’s poll on wimbledonguardian.co.uk found that 74 per cent of people would not report their neighbours if they saw them using a hosepipe.

Thames Water and Merton Council were criticised last month after both failed to tell Merton's social housing provider, Merton Priory Homes, that a water leak had been reported on their property.

Dave Charnley, who lived near the leak on Seddon Road, Morden, measured the water was gushing out of the leak at 3.6l each minute.

This amounted to about 600,000l of wasted clean water since the leak was first reported by Mr Charnley on January 7.

Once MPH was made aware of the leak by the Wimbledon Guardian, their contractors fixed it within two days.

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