A THAMES Water customer fed up with rising water prices and a hosepipe ban has been told she can ship water in if she is not happy with the service.

Cheryl Spittles, 23, from Church Street, Stokenchurch, received the bizarre suggestion that water tanks could be delivered to her by other water providers from other parts of the country after she wrote an email to Thames Water to complain about her high rates.

She said: "I kept reading about all the water leaks that aren't being fixed and I thought of the cost of my bills, which made me want to write to them. When I got my response I thought it was incredible. It was a funny thing to say. It is not really that practical to do it."

Ms Spittles, a mother of two, pays more than £31 a month for her water and said she has seen this go up in the last few months. She said that if the rates continue to rise she may have to have a serious look at Thames Water's idea.

She said: "If they put the rates up again then I will have to do something. I don't know how you would ship water in, but it is something I might look at."

Ross Edwards, from Thames Water, said: "We can't stop customers doing that if they want to. If there are no other water providers with pipes in the area then that is obviously an option to her."

Ms Spittles was told that a Hippo water saving device, which fits inside a toilet cistern and saves three litres of water per flush, was available for free if she applied for one.

She has requested a Hippo and is waiting for it to arrive.

Mr Edwards said there are no plans to end the hosepipe ban in Buckinghamshire as the area has continued to suffer from low rainfall and hot weather.

He said: "We are still in the middle of a drought. There has not been much rain so the situation has not improved. We are monitoring the situation constantly but it all depends on rainfall."