Police are hunting brutal thugs who dragged a Grays taxi driver from his vehicle and beat him to the ground before stealing his cab.

It happened at 2.15am yesterday (Sunday) as the cabbie waited for a fare on a garage forecourt near the Circus Tavern on the A13 in Purfleet.

He was approached by two men who asked for a lift. When the driver told them he was already booked he was dragged from the car, repeatedly punched and threatened with a glass bottle.

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