'It's not us' insists water firm as residents feel earth move

United Utilities has denied it is behind a mysterious tremor which sent Fylde coast homes shaking.
United Utilities is currently building massive underground tanks at Anchorsholme LaneUnited Utilities is currently building massive underground tanks at Anchorsholme Lane
United Utilities is currently building massive underground tanks at Anchorsholme Lane

The ‘quake’ was felt by people living close to the firm’s construction site at Anchorsholme on Tuesday morning.But the company insists none of its monitoring equipment detected any abnormal activity.The British Geological Survey, which has monitoring equipment across the Fylde coast designed to pick up earthquake activity also registered no abnormal movements.But people living close to the sea front at Anchorsholme are adamant about what they heard and felt.James Loy, who lives in Buckdean Close, explained what happened at just before 10am on Tuesday.He said: “The wooden floor shook and I heard a noise like a thud.“The floor below me went up and down very slightly.“The person I was with asked ‘did you hear that?’“We lived here when there was the earthquake a few years ago but that was at night so I don’t know if it was the same.“I’ve certainly never felt anything like this before.”Mr Loy was not the only person to feel the tremor, with a number of residents posting to social media about strange sounds and ground movements.Coun Paul Galley also felt the tremor.He has reported the incident to Blackpool Council and is hoping the authority will investigate the cause.United Utilities is carrying out work close to the area where the shaking was reported, installing new storm water storage tanks and an outfall pipe as part of a mult-million pound improvement scheme.The tanks are made up of huge concrete sections sunk into the ground.But the firm insists it’s on site equipment did not pick up anything out of the ordinary on Tuesday morning.A United Utilities spokesman said: “We have checked the vibration monitors we’ve got set up around our working area and they have not transmitted any alerts with respect to vibration from any activity being carried out by us on Tuesday.”“These monitors are set very low so we can act quickly should anything on site have the potential to cause disruption to the local community.”