Taxi firms in Brighton and Hove are installing security cameras to protect drivers facing an increasing risk of attack.

The move could also deter thieves trying to steal drivers' cars following an opportunist who struck eight times in one fortnight in June.

Brighton and Hove Radio Cabs plans to fit digital cameras which would record every move of its passengers.

The aim is to avert attacks on drivers such as the terrifying assault in June on George Attaalla who was lucky to survive after robbers stabbed him in the neck, missing a vital artery by just a centimetre.

Mr Attaalla had picked up two men late on a Saturday night, at the junction of Viaduct Road and Ditchling Road, Brighton.

When they asked him to stop in Lynchet Close, one of the men put a knife to his neck and demanded cash.

The cabbie handed over his takings but as the men got out of the car, one of them stabbed him in the neck.

The serial thief in June lay in wait at supermarket pick-up points in Brighton and Hove before leaping into waiting taxis when the drivers got out of their cars to help customers.

He later abandoned the cabs and escaped with the drivers' takings and any shopping bags.

Company director Chris Nutley said taxi firms had noticed a rise in attacks on drivers, not only in Brighton and Hove but also across the country.

"We are thinking about the safety of the drivers and passengers.

"It's a whole new concept and it could be very a useful one. Take the case of the thief at the supermarkets, if we had had that equipment we would have apprehended that guy a long time ago."

The firm is meeting with the council today to discuss the idea.

They plan to fit cameras by the rear-view mirror of cars with a switch on the dashboard so photographs can be taken of passengers.

CarCabs, in Victoria Road, Portslade, is among the first to run the scheme and already some drivers are giving the cameras a trial run.

The cameras cost up to £400 each, but drivers will be able to rent them for as little as £2 a week.Other firms are considering the scheme.