A video has captured the moment a huge sonic boom shook south east London.

The huge bang resonated throughout parts of London, Cambridgeshire and Essex yesterday, leaving people jumping out of their skin and staring to the skies for explanation.

One woman tweeted: "Has there been some sort of explosion in Deptford? Just felt enormous bang whilst walking along the river in Greenwich and saw smoke."

TV presenter Rylan Clark-Neal, 32, took to Twitter to write: "Thought a plane fell onto my roof, whole house shook #sonicboom."

And in a subsequent Tweet he added: "Wish I’d checked Twitter before I decided to single handedly, automatic wine opener in hand, inspect upstairs thinking a flying burglar had broken into my loft.

"That was bloody loud."

But it turned out there was a simple explanation for the boom - as the RAF confirmed that it had scrambled Quick Alert Typhoon jets to the aid of an unresponsive aircraft.

A spokesman for the RAF said: "The RAF can confirm Quick Reaction Alert Typhoon aircraft were launched this afternoon from RAF Coningsby to intercept a civilian aircraft that had lost communications.

"Subsequently, communications were re-established, the aircraft was intercepted and safely escorted to Stansted.

"The Typhoon aircraft were authorised to transit at supersonic speed for operational reasons."

Meanwhile, others joked on Twitter about the RAF acting on Covid rulebreakers.

Kylo Renfield wrote: "So the #sonicboom was the result of a RAF Typhoon responding to an immediate threat caused by a cyclist, just about to breach the seven mile limit from their home."

And John Connett Tweeted: "Heard a sonic boom earlier. Has Priti gone ballistic?"