In a tweet, the BGT said: “We are getting reports of an earthquake in the Bedfordshire area. We are currently investigating this event and will post again shortly with an update.”

Initial data on the BGS site suggested the earthquake was felt in the region of Leighton Buzzard, in Bedfordshire, at around 8.45am and was magnitude 3.3 at a depth of 10km.

The BGS said one report suggested the earthquake was like a “large explosion”.

A tweet said: “BGS is receiving many notifications from press & public in this heavily populated area. Reports include ‘like a convey of HGVs driving past my front door at great speed’, ‘the house had one dramatic shake’, ‘felt like whole house was shaking’ & ‘it was like a large explosion’.”

Bedfordshire Police said the force was taking a “large” number of calls from the public but no injuries have been reported.

Bedfordshire Police said: “Our control room are currently experiencing a large number of calls due to an earthquake which was felt across the county. We have currently received no reports of any injuries or major structural damage.”