BRITAIN'S biggest earthquake for ten years rocked homes from Monmouth to Malmesbury.

Striking at 12.24am on Monday and measuring 4.8 on the Richter scale, the earthquake's epicentre was in the West Midlands but the tremor was felt in places as far apart as Wales and West Yorkshire.

In Malmesbury pensioner Caroline Pym, 71, of Portmeadow, Common Road, said she thought a large storm was just about to hit the town. The rumbling had woken her and the tremors had shaken the bed and windows in her home.

"I had been reading my book and had just dozed off when I was woken by a rumble. I thought the house had been hit by something. The windows started to rattle and the bed was shaking.

"I thought some big storm had blown up and there was another big shaking which had never happened before even in the worst storms."

Mrs Pym went back to sleep after looking outside and finding there was no storm or traffic problems.

Malmesbury residents Debby Salmons and Gavin Elley also felt the earthquake. "Our bed shook and we thought it was a burglar breaking in downstairs. Gavin went downstairs to check," said Ms Salmons.

Wiltshire County Council's emergency planning department received a handful of telephone calls from worried county residents who had been shaken from their sleep by the tremor.

A spokesman said: "We did get a couple of phone calls but there were no reports of structural damage or any other problems. The county escaped damage."