A "significant" earthquake shook the UK in the early hours of this morning, causing damage to buildings and leaving at least one person injured.

And the shockwaves of the seismic tremor were even felt by people in Swindon.

The tremor hit at around 1am and was measured at 5.2 on the Richter scale.

Its epicentre was near Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, but the effects of the quake were felt throughout the country.

As far away as Wales, Scotland and London, there were reports of residents being woken from their sleep by the tremor.

Emergency services across England received a high level of calls following the incident, many from people who were frightened when they were woken up to find their home shaking.

It resulted in at least one injury. A man from Barnsley, South Yorkshire, required hospital treatment after a chimney collapsed and fell into his bedroom.

Clive Thompson, 51, of Rodbourne Cheney, said: "I came home from work at 12.50am and my daughter Julie was on her laptop then all of a sudden her laptop started shaking.

"It was like there was a spirit in the room."

Karl Obloj, 45, of Haydon End, also felt the tremor.

He said: "I thought I was being possessed. The whole house shook."

A Lincolnshire Police spokeswoman said the force took dozens of calls from concerned residents but had no reports of anyone being injured.

"It made us very, very busy for about an hour," she said.

The British Geological Survey (BGS) initially gave the magnitude for the 12.56am earthquake as 5.3 on the Richter scale but later said it was closer to 5.2.

It said the centre was five miles east of Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, and about 15 miles south west of Grimsby.

Seismologist Brian Baptie of the BGS said: "This is a significant earthquake for the UK and will have been widely felt across England and Wales."