Scientists are calling for a temporary ban on oil drilling in Surrey after 12 earthquakes in four months.
Four senior geologists say that there are risks to health and the environment from unstable geology that had not been identified when permission was granted for several oil exploration sites, including two a few miles from the earthquake epicentres.
People in Newdigate, Dorking, Horley and Charlwood have reported shaking ground and creaking buildings from the small earthquakes, which had a magnitude of up to 3.0. There had been no previous recorded earthquakes in Surrey for at least 50 years.
Fracking was temporarily banned in the UK in 2011 after Cuadrilla caused earthquakes near Blackpool with a magnitude of 2.3 and 1.5. No fracking is authorised in Surrey.