Tremors from the UK's biggest earthquake in 25 years were felt as far from its epicentre in Lincolnshire as Holland, Lancashire, Scotland - and Ashtead.

Vibrations and unnerving rattles shook homes across the UK, including that of publisher John Cheadle, who was rocked by the seismic shifting in his bedroom.

John, 42, said he was about to fall asleep in his home just before 1am on Tuesday when his bedroom started rumbling.

"I thought it was a poltergeist shaking the bed - either that or the neighbours were doing something very strange," a shaken and stirred John told the Epsom Guardian.

What John experienced was not an unwelcome insight into the nocturnal activities of his neighbours in Oakfield Road but an earthquake that shook homes across the UK.

The largest shocks were recorded in Lincolnshire and the north of England but people from all over Britain claimed to have felt it.

John, 42, added: "I felt this shaking - it was a very odd experience that lasted for about seven seconds. I was just going off to sleep when it started.

"What is extraordinary is the force of it so far from the epicentre in Market Rasen, Lincolnshire. When I was little I always wanted to be in an earthquake, but having done it, that's it. I don't want to do it again."

The worst damage was in south Yorkshire where a 19-year-old student suffered a broken pelvis after being pinned under masonry in his bedroom.