A taxi driver needed 25 stitches after a passenger bashed him over the head with a wooden plank and ran off with his takings.

Ian Ramsey, a hackney driver in Worthing, has vowed the attack will not stop him working but it has left him badly shaken and possibly scarred for life.

He had been chatting to a passenger in his taxi and even lent him his mobile phone when the thug suddenly turned on him.

Mr Ramsey said he remembered being in his cab one minute and on the ground outside being beaten the next.

He said: "When I got to the man's home he said he didn't have enough money to pay me and got out to knock on the door of some flats.

"He came back and asked to borrow my mobile. Like a fool I let my window down, gave him my mobile and he turned away to use it.

"Then the next thing I knew I had been hit two or three times and I was on the ground outside my car. There was no indication he was going to turn nasty.

"I thought he'd hit me with my phone but the police later found a plank of wood he'd bashed me with.

"He said he wanted my money so I gave him my money pouch and said 'take it'. I couldn't do anything else with blood pouring from my face."

Mr Ramsey managed to drive himself to Worthing Hospital with one hand. He was transferred to St Richard's in Chichester to have 13 stitches above his eye and 12 stitches to his upper lip.

He is will discover today whether he will be left permanently scarred.

Mr Ramsey, 57, had picked two men up from Chapel Road in Worthing and had a friendly conversation with them on the way to their destinations in Lancing and Sompting. He said they did not appear to be drunk.

After dropping off one man he drove to Mash Barn Estate in Sompting with the remaining passenger.

Mr Ramsey said: "He was either an opportunist or it was set-up from the word go and he had the plank waiting outside.

"The man was very cool. He kept eye contact as he leaned over and took my car keys. Then he threw them in the grass so I couldn't follow him.

"I couldn't even phone the police because he'd taken my mobile. I was leaning against my cab when he ran off and I managed to stem the flow of blood with a handkerchief.

"I drove myself to hospital with one hand and it took them an hour and a half to stitch me up."

Mr Ramsey said the incident would not put him off driving a cab.

He said: "I went out again two days later. I'm not going to let the whole thing stop me doing my job. I've got a little bit of the true Brit attitude.

"In the past 11 months I've been assaulted, had my window smashed and now this.

"I am very cautious now but 97 per cent of the people I pick up are wonderful and good fun. I'm not going to let this stop me. Increasingly I have a feeling of indignation and frustration but I'll carry on."

Police are appealing for witnesses to the attack, which took place just after 3am on December 18.

The man is described as 28 to 32 years old, 5ft 10 tall, slim and with mousy coloured, slightly receding hair.

Anyone with information should call the police on 0845 6070999.