Tremors from the biggest earthquake in the UK for nearly 25 years were felt throughout the district in the early hours today.

Homes across Bradford were shaken by the earthquake - the epicentre of which was near Market Rasen in Lincolnshire.

So far there have been no reports of any injuries in the Bradford area, but a man from Barnsley was taken to hospital with injuries to his pelvis after a chimney collapsed and fell into his bedroom.

Fire crews across the Bradford district said they had received calls relating to structural damage. Fairweather Green firefighter Paul Daly said they were called to a house in Cemetery Road, Lidget Green, where a man evacuated his children from their home after he saw cracks appearing in the roof and walls.

Mr Daly said: "When we got there the occupier was concerned about the stability of his house.

"He got his children out of the house after he felt their safety was in jeopardy.

"He felt the rumbling and his plasterwork had cracked along with his ceiling.

"He was totally unaware of what was happening - he had no idea it was an earthquake.

"We got a call through on the radio though from our control room in Birkenshaw saying they understood an earthquake had occurred.

"His house was stable enough for him to stay in there, so we did not actually do anything, just checked the structural damage to the house."

Meanwhile, firefighters in Cleckheaton were called at about 1.30am to a gable end in Birkenshaw which had come loose.

The British Geological Survey (BGS) said the earthquake measured 5.3 on the Richter scale.

The ten-second quake struck just before 1am at a depth of 15.4km.

At around 4am the BGS recorded an aftershock with a magnitude of 1.8.

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