A COACH driver suffered serious injuries after he was attacked by a group of youths who had been kicked out of a train station.

The driver, from Basildon, suffered concussion, a fractured nose and a fractured foot after having a beer bottle smashed over his head as he was thrown down the coach stairs.

He was working for SBC coaches as a rail replacement bus driver on Saturday in Shenfield when the attack took place.

He said: “The boys were kicked out of the station [and] they tried to get on [to the coach] through the emergency exits and then tried to steal my bag.

“I tried to defend myself. I tried to take my bag off him but another one then pushed me down the stairs.”

The 42-year-old added: “I was on all fours, getting kicked in the side and in the face. One then bottled me with a bottle of Corona. I was showered in beer.

“None of it was really hurting, I think the adrenaline had kicked in by that point.

“One of the four then tried to slash me over the head with the broken glass but luckily the group of people who were waiting to get on kicked it out of his hand. There was blood everywhere.

“The group of boys were still fighting everyone who was in the car park. They didn’t disappear for another ten minutes.”

A fellow driver warned how such incidents are becoming increasingly common for late night drivers.

The 47-year-old, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “This is third incident like this in two months for bus drivers in the area.

Saturday nights are the worst for it. We need more protection on board. If you look at train drivers, they are enclosed by their cockpit.”

A spokesman for SBC coaches said: “It was a very nasty attack. He no longer wants to do rail replacement work because of what happened.

“He won’t be able to work for the near future after the concussion.”

An Essex Police spokesman added: “We were called shortly before 11pm on Saturday with reports a man was assaulted near to Shenfield railway train station in Hutton Road.

“The man, who is aged in his 40s, reported being struck to the head with a bottle by four people who had fled the scene.”

Three 18-year-old men from Leigh, Rayleigh and Westcliff and a 17-year-old boy from Leigh were arrested at Wickford on suspicion of assault causing actual bodily harm.