A Hailey woman has criticised Thames Water for cutting the water pressure in the west Oxfordshire village without telling residents.

Marjorie Moores, of Delly Hill, who has a boiler which runs directly from the mains supply, said she had endured cold showers for almost three weeks because of the low pressure.

She said: "Thames Water should have told us what they were doing.

"They're supposed to be conserving water but they can't be if you have to stand there running the tap for ages trying to get hot water through."

Thames Water spokesman Hilary Bennett said the water pressure would be gradually increased in the next few weeks.

She said: "We reduced the pressure over the past few months because we had water resource concerns at Farmoor reservoir, which was very low.

"We apologise for any inconvenience caused, but we have a responsibility to monitor water levels for the region."

Miss Bennett said the company did not usually inform residents about water pressure reductions unless they were below the statutory level.

Mrs Moores said the problem started after engineers had been working near her house on Friday, December 19. During the following weekend her boiler struggled to heat the water.

She said: "On Sunday it took 12 minutes to get hot water. We're wasting so much water leaving the tap running. Other people in the village are having the same problem.

"All over Christmas I had cold showers. I found the best time to have a hot bath is midnight, which is ridiculous."

Mrs Moores said Thames Water initially told her nothing had been done to the water system, but it later admitted the pressure had been reduced.

The problem comes at a time when Oxfordshire is experiencing a water shortage following the driest autumn since 1873.

Levels at Farmoor reservoir are now nearly normal, partly due to water being extracted from the River Thames. In October, the reservoir was less than half full.