Tell your neighbours if you plan on sunbathing naked during heatwave, warn police

Tanners who plan on sunbathing naked in their gardens should let their neighbours know beforehand to avoid breaking the law, say police.

As temperatures soar well over 30C across the UK, many people have been baring all in their back yards.

But Surrey Police have issued a warning to sun-worshippers who plan to go naked on their own property.

SLIDESHOW: HEATWAVE UK SWELTERS DURING ‘SECOND WARMEST JUNE EVER’

On its Facebook page, the force said: “If you want to wander around your garden naked and you are overlooked by neighbours then you have to be careful – an Englishman’s home is not quite his castle and your garden is not exempt from the law.

“In an ideal world, your relationship with your neighbours would be such that they would not object to you gardening in the buff and they would never dream of calling the police.

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“In the real world, however, you would be well advised to take some simple precautions.”

The force suggested naked sunbathers could screen off part of their garden so neighbours can’t see them in the flesh.

“You will have to decide whether your desire to be naked in your garden is more important to you than being on friendly terms with those around you,” it said.

“No one has the right to spy on you and if you find that your neighbour is leaning out of an upstairs window or standing on the top of a step ladder in order to see you then he or she may well be committing an offence.”

Surrey Police said its officers “may well be reluctant” to get involved in a dispute between neighbours over allegations of indecent exposure.

It is not illegal for women to go topless in public, but the Crown Prosecution Service says: “In the case of naturism a balance needs to be struck between the naturist’s right to freedom of expression and the right of the wider public to be protected from harassment, alarm and distress.”

The UK basked in one of its hottest and driest Junes ever, according to provisional figures.

It was the driest June on record in south-east and central southern England, with just 6% of expected rainfall across counties like Essex and Dorset, the Met Office said.

Scotland also enjoyed its highest ever temperature, with 33.2C recorded in Motherwell on June 28.

The sweltering spell has continued into July, with many parts enjoying temperatures around the mid-to-high 20s.