UK's Leighton Buzzard rocked by second earthquake in a week

The Bedfordshire town has been dubbed the 'seismic capital’ of the south-east by residents

The sleepy market town of Leighton Buzzard in the UK isn't usually troubled by earth tremors. Alamy

Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire, UK was hit with its second earthquake in a week on Sunday night with one local describing feeling a sideways push and five seconds of rattling.

The British Geological Survey registered the tremor at a magnitude of 3.5 on the Richter scale.

The first quake to strike the home counties town last Tuesday was an order of magnitude higher at 3.5.

That one was described as being like a “large explosion” but Sunday's has been reported as feeling "less intense" by members of the public.

The BGS tweeted the details earlier on Monday morning:

Its head of seismology, Dr Brian Baptie, told the BBC that earthquakes of this size are usually only experienced once a year in the UK and that they tend to occur “a little bit further north, or west, or down in the Dover Strait area.”

Bedfordshire Police said no injuries have been reported, and residents’ responses to the quake have been characterised less by shock and more by wry amusement.