Now Leighton Buzzard hit by 2 more quakes

Residents of Leighton Buzzard were shaken by two earthquakes yesterday – just as they had got the furniture straight from two others.

the first, at 8.32am, measured 3.0-magnitude – enough to rattle windows and shake pictures off walls.

it followed shocks measuring 2.1 on september 13 and 3.5 five days earlier.

the epicentre was slightly north of the Bedfordshire town and about six miles below ground, according to the British Geological survey, which warned of aftershocks. And as if on cue, another one struck at around 1.40pm.

Matt stewart said the first tremor ‘almost shook me out of bed’. He added: ‘it felt like a whoosh and then a boom coming up through the earth, then it shook the house and a couple of pictures fell off the wall upstairs, like the last time.’

Others described the tremors as feeling like their home had been hit by a large truck. Another wrote: ‘Ground, surroundings and buildings were wobbling and shaking, vertically and horizontally.’

the BGs said surrey had experienced a similar ‘ swarm’ of 34 such minor quakes and tremors between April 2018 and May last year.

seismologist Glenn Ford said yesterday’s were, ‘nothing to do with fracking or anything like that’. He added: ‘it’s not unusual... this relieves built-up stress in the rocks.’