Cuadrilla forced to stop fracking as quake breaches threshold

Shale gas firm halts work near Blackpool after 17th quake is first over 0.5 magnitude limit

Cuadrilla has been forced to stop fracking after its operations at a well near Blackpool triggered an earthquake that breached the official threshold.

The company said it had paused work for 18 hours after the tremor on Friday morning. It was the 17th quake in the area since fracking began 11 days ago, but the first to be powerful enough to pass a regulatory threshold that requires fracking to stop.