A hosepipe ban is set to come in across Kent and Sussex thanks to a record demand for drinking water, South East Water bosses said.

Households in the region have been without water for six days, with some customers told that service will not return to normal until Sunday.

A number of schools have been forced to shut while locals have been left to rely on drinking from emergency bottled water stations.

The temporary ban on hosepipes and sprinklers will come in on June 26.

South East Water blamed the shortages on record demand, saying that it had provided an extra 120 million litres of water a day.