A suspected dangerous Asian giant hornet found in a Great Harwood garage has been revealed to be harmless by Blackpool Zoo experts.

The brightly coloured two-inch long insect flew into the All Cars Garage on Monday at 2pm, alarming mechanic Colin Francis who hit it with a sponge.

Mr Francis said: “I was taken aback by the size of it. I had a look at it and started doing some research and I thought it might be the Asian Hornet.”

He caught the exotic insect in a bucket, drowning it, and rang Hyndburn pest control who took it away to be analysed.

Mr Francis was alarmed by reports of the spread of Asian hornets across Europe into the UK and government warnings that they are a ‘significant threat to human health’.

However, animal experts at Blackpool Zoo confirmed that it was in fact a harmless wood wasp, or horntail, rather than the deadly Asian species. The two insects look almost identical with yellow and black bodies, a wide wingspan and similarly sized between two and three inches. The Asian hornet is potentially fatal to people with allergies.