Worried residents phoned police just after 11.20am on Tuesday after they felt the tremor in Lancaster, but it soon emerged that it was also recorded across parts of west and central Lancashire, as well as in Barrow, Kendal and Windermere in Cumbria.

A spokesman for Lancashire police said: "We've had a few calls into the comms room at Lancaster.

"We have not received any reports of damage or injuries at this stage."

Tracey Ainscough, from Fleetwood, said that at first she thought something had hit the house.

She added: "But then I went on Facebook and people were posting comments about the earthquake."

Teresa Wintrop, who felt the quake in Cleveleys, said: "I'm shaking. I just thought something had hit the house.

"I was just sitting at the computer playing Foxy Bingo and everything just shook. My son had just come in from work and he was asleep and it woke him up.

"I could see the walls shaking and I looked outside but there was nothing."

The British Geological Survey (BGS) said the epicentre of the earthquake was Ulverston in Cumbria.

Aoife O'Mongain, from the BGS, said: "It had a magnitude of 3.7, which is a measurement similar to the Richter scale.

"It shouldn't cause much damage. We've had quite a lot of calls from people saying the windows shook and the whole house rattled.

"You can never tell if there's going to be more but it's unlikely they would be large.

"It's not that unusual for Cumbria to have earthquakes. We've had reports from Cumbria and Lancashire."

It was reportedly felt around the Thornton Cleveleys, Morecambe, Fleetwood and Lancaster areas, though an LEP reader called Tracy said she thought she had felt the tremor in the centre of Preston.

20ft crack

She explained: "Myself and a colleague are on the third floor of a building in Preston City Centre. About 30 minutes ago our desks and computers started wobbling and shaking. No-one else felt it and we thought we were going mad. Good to know we aren't!"

There have been scores of comments posted by people in Lancashire on Twitter, an online service which enables users to broadcast short messages to their friends or "followers".

One said: "I'm interested to know if the shaking was an earthquake, or Sellafield going "boom!"

And another wrote: "It must have been a big enough one. Friend of mine in Preston just emailed to say he thought it was a low-flying plane."

The last earthquake to be felt in Lancashire was a 5.2 magnitude quake which originated near Market Rasen in Lincolnshire.

The tremors, on February 27 2008, caused a 20ft crack along the foyer at Asda, Fulwood.

It was the biggest in Britain since 1984 when north Wales was hit by a quake which registered at 5.4 on the Richter scale.

Did you feel the tremor and do you know if any video footage has been taken of the incident? Please contact the LEP newsdesk at lep.newsdesk@lep.co.uk

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