A taxi driver has told how he sped through the streets late at night to get a stabbed man to hospital for life-saving emergency surgery.

Simon Cassidy delivered the blood-soaked semi-conscious man after phoning 999 operators en route to the hospital.

Mr Cassidy, 29, described how he broke down in tears the day after the incident when he met the injured man in hospital.

The man's family embraced him and thanked him for saving their son's life.

Mr Cassidy has only been driving cabs for two months for Taxi Link of Albion Street, Southwick.

He had just dropped a fare off in the early hours of Sunday morning when he came across a group of people in Buckingham Road, Shoreham.

They were shouting that someone had been stabbed.

The 7ft father-of-two from Lancing pulled his car over and went to investigate.

He said: "There were about seven or eight people standing around the man. His dad was there and his girlfriend.

"He was leaning against a bus shelter holding his stomach.

"He started passing out so I just got him into the back of my cab."

Mr Cassidy has worked as a doorman and took a first-aid course in February when he worked for Carpetright.

The man's girlfriend got in the back with him and his father in the front.

Mr Cassidy said he put his foot to the floor of his Skoda Octavia estate to drive along the seafront to Worthing General Hospital at high speed.

En route he telephoned 999 and reported his destination and his passenger's condition so staff could prepare.

He said he told police he had reached high speeds along the journey in case he clocked up speeding tickets.

Mr Cassidy said: "They said it was a medical emergency so it was okay."

The injured man, who is in his twenties and from Shoreham, was taken into the hospital unconscious on a trolley.

He underwent surgery and is said to be in a satisfactory condition.

On Monday Mr Cassidy went to visit the young man.

He said: "He held my hand for a minute. He couldn't speak. It was very traumatic.

"His mum grabbed and held me. When I got outside the hospital I had a few tears."

Mr Cassidy, who has a daughter Blaise, eight months, and a stepson Connor, seven, said he would go to someone's aid again if he had to.

He said: "I had to do it. He was a fellow human being and no one should suffer like that.

"I felt I had a public duty and I would do the same again.

"I have a family and I hope someone would help my kids if they were in trouble."

Mr Cassidy returned to his family home on Sunday and he and his partner Leanne Wood started to clean the blood from the back seat.

They said there was so much of it, it was very upsetting.

The police then phoned and said they wanted the vehicle for forensics and towed the vehicle away.

It was returned the following day and Mr Cassidy had it professionally valeted.

He said: "I was a doorman for several years but I've never experienced anything like it.

"Even now it brings a lump to my throat. "

A 17-year-old man has been arrested and bailed in connection with the incident.