A Mother-of-six was injured when the telephone she was using exploded as lightning hit her house during a thunderstorm.

Wendy Beattie, 35, of Asquith Road, Oxford, was calling her mother-in-law to make sure she was all right when lightning struck her house on Tuesday.

A powerful electrical charge travelled down the phone line, instantly burning out the receiver and hurling Mrs Beattie back in a chair, knocking her out.

She said: "The phone just went bang. I was knocked out for a couple of seconds and my husband had to bring me round.

"There was a pain like I've never felt before in my head. It was like someone had got a sword in my brain and was twisting it. The inside of my left ear was burnt and I now have a hole in the membrane of my ear."

Mrs Beattie saw a doctor that night who immediately referred her to the John Radcliffe Hospital where she had an ECG scan and blood tests.

She eventually discharged herself after midnight, against the advice of doctors, to be able to take care of her children the next day. She will need to go to the ear, nose and throat hospital at the Radcliffe Infirmary for further tests.

The experience has brought home to Mrs Beattie the dangers of using a phone during a thunderstorm.

She said: "I'm nervous about using the phone again now and I'll definitely never use it again in a thunderstorm, even in an emergency. I don't think people realise just how dangerous it is."