SUPERMARKET LIDL HAS sold out of a range of swimming pools in a matter of hours – despite a national hosepipe ban being in place from tomorrow.

The company had put the Bestway steel pro swimming pool on sale today at 8am, but all have sold out across the country. The pools were reported to be sold out before 10am this morning.

Lidl says that the demand for the products was unprecedented during the current heatwave.

“Unfortunately due to unprecedented demand the above item has sold out much quicker than we could have anticipated. Stock for this promotion was bought and the sales date planned nearly a year in advance.

Whilst we apologise to customers who have been disappointed, we would ask customers to be respectful towards our employees who have no control over availability.

A further statement said:

“Due to the recent water restrictions that have been put in place, we would hope customers who purchased this item act responsibly and adhere to the guidelines set out by Irish Water.

“We can confirm that a ticketing system is put in place for promotional products on occasion when we anticipate that demand exceeds supply. Store teams are instructed to give tickets to the first customers who arrive to the store, on occasion this can be well in advance of our 8am opening times. Customers are required to present themselves at 8am to claim the item. The ticketing system is in the interest of health and safety, it is not for reserving and collecting items later.”

An eyewitness who saw people buying the pools told TheJournal.ie that “one woman was covering hers with a black bin bag before she went home with it to prevent neighbours seeing.

“She’s hoping she can fill it up without anyone noticing but is a bit worried about that now.”

Full to 90%, the pools hold 7,480 litres, around 20 times the average family usage a day.

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Irish Water yesterday said that a nationwide hosepipe ban will come into effect from 8am tomorrow until midnight on Tuesday 31 July.

The ban prohibits the use of water through a hose or “similar apparatus” for:

• Gardening
• Cleaning your car or private leisure boat
• Filling or maintaining a domestic swimming or paddling pool
• Filling ponds (this doesn’t include fish ponds)
• Filling an ornamental fountain.

Since the weather temperature increase, the demand for water has increased by 15%, according to the water utility.