The hunt for shale gas in Lancashire has been brought to a halt after fracking triggered a tremor which ripped through the Government's safety guidelines.

Fracking firm Cuadrilla has been forced stop fracking for the first time since it was allowed to restart work at its Preston New Road site less than a fortnight ago.

The temporary pause will be in place for eighteen hours after a mini-quake at the site blasted past safety limits to register 0.8 on the richter scale.

A tremor of this magnitude would be imperceptible to most but is still well above the 0.5 limit set by the Government.