Large areas of England from London to Manchester suffered tremors just before 1am last night as an earthquake measuring 4.7 on the Richter scale rumbled through the country for several seconds.
There were reports of power cuts in some cities and of buildings shaking - in Hull students ran into the street for fear of falling masonry - but no reports of injuries.
According to the US Geological Survey, the earthquake struck at 12.56am at a depth of 10km (6.2 miles) with an epicentre 205 km (127 miles) north of London and 30 miles south of Kingston upon Hull. The Guardian received calls from startled readers from London, Bedfordshire Yorkshire, Manchester, Blackpool and Leicester.
The North West Ambulance Service said its crews had reported feeling the tremor from Macclesfield to Southport but they had not heard of any injuries by 1.15am.
A spokeswoman said: "We felt the tremors here in our control room in Anfield. We have had a few of our vehicles reporting that they felt the tremors
as far as Macclesfield and up towards Southport but no actual calls from the public."
Merseyside police and Merseyside fire and rescue service confirmed they had received reports of tremors but no reports of injuries.
Alex Ferrier, 22, a marine biology student from Hull, said: "It was quite scary ... we live in a road of large terraced houses and I was woken up and looked out of the window and there were loads of people on the streets."
Alex's mother, Val, who lives in Manchester, said she was woken when the large mirrors on her wardrobe shook violently.
"The whole room was shaking for about 20 seconds, it was quite violent. I ran downstairs," she said.
Geoff Halsey, 62, a salesman from Tingrith in Bedfordshire, was woken and said he knew immediately that it was an earthquake.
"I was fast asleep when I felt a whiplash, it was quite violent ... lasting a few seconds. The whole house shivered, me and the wife both jumped up. The pheasants started singing and other birds began to sing as well."
Natasha Cavey, in Tipton, West Midlands, said: "All my cupboard doors flew open and the whole house shook, it was unreal. I can't believe it."
David Somerset, 41, from Driffield near Beverley in East Yorkshire, said: "I have never felt one as strong as that one before. I was in my sitting room and the grandfather clock was rattling rather violently.
"It was very strong, I felt the whole room moving."
The West Midlands was hit by an earthquake in 2002 in the Dudley area that reached a magnitude of 5.0 and caused damage to homes.
The last earthquake in the UK was a 2.9 tremor in Wales in November.
