As much of a parched England faces a blanket ban on using hose pipes to counter water shortages there are a group of people who will avoid the penalty. Southern Water has become the latest company to bring in a hosepipe ban, to protect rare chalk stream habitat, as the UK has battled exceptionally dry weather.

Yorkshire Water, Thames Water and South East Water are also bringing in, or have brought in bans, and will enforce the restrictions on hosepipes for activities such as watering gardens, filling paddling pools or washing cars. Anyone who breaches the ban without permission from the water company could be fined up to £1,000.

But one group of people will escape being fined and can carry on using the watering method, if they hold a government-issued certification which more than 2.8 million people currently have.

Blue Badges, which can be displayed in vehicles, are issued to people with disabilities or health conditions to allow them to park closer to their destination. They cost up to £10 in England, £20 in Scotland and are free in Wales. They usually last up to 3 years.

You automatically qualify for a Blue Badge if you are aged 3 or over and you receive a benefit usually associated with mobility issues, for example if you are registered blind, you receive the higher rate of the mobility component of the Disability Living Allowance (DLA), or a War Pensioners’ Mobility Supplement. Other conditions and benefits also make a person eligible.

Under regulations governing water companies and hose pipe ban enforcement, people who are registered disabled, blue badge holders or on a water companies' priority services register, are exempt from the ban.

Rainfall across England was 20% less than the long-term average for June, which was also the hottest on record for the country, with two heatwaves driving unusually high demand for water, the Environment Agency has said.

More heatwave conditions have followed in July, with the Met Office warning weather extremes such as heat have become the "norm" for the UK as a result of climate change driven by human activities such as burning fossil fuels.

Drought was declared in East and West Midlands on Tuesday, with the region joining swathes of northern England in drought status.

Yorkshire Water became the first major water company to bring in a hosepipe ban which came into effect last Friday.

South East Water has announced a hosepipe ban in Kent and Sussex from Friday, and Thames Water is bringing in a ban from next Tuesday for customers in Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, most of Wiltshire and some parts of Berkshire.

Southern Water said restrictions would come in for households in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight from Monday.