A man was left with six broken ribs and a collapsed lung when he was beaten up by a group of thugs in an unprovoked attack.

He was set upon last night outside the Spar shop at the Southgate Drive shopping parade in Crawley.

The gang repeatedly kicked and punched him until he fell over and carried on putting the boot in as he lay on the ground.

The victim, from Crawley, was left lying on the pavement until emergency services arrived, when medical staff had to re-inflate his collapsed lung.

He was likely to be kept in hospital for several days.

The incident happened between 10.30pm and 10.45pm as the Spar shop was about to close.

The 39-year-old victim had gone into the store and while he was waiting in a queue, two or three youngsters came in and started to be abusive.

The man asked them to behave but they turned their verbal abuse on him.

The group left the store before the victim but as he walked outside he was set upon by between three and six men.

Detective Sergeant Stuart McCall said: "This was a vicious attack, completely callous and unprovoked.

"I'm urging anyone with information about what happened to contact us."

The attackers were all believed to be young, probably in their teens.