A CAB driver who is part of the Cab Safe scheme in Bexleyheath, is recovering at home after a vicious beating by one of his customers.

Sevarajah Kantharuban, from Broadway Express cabs in Bexleyheath, is now eating through a straw after picking up a group of young people from a party.

Mr Kantharuban, 32, from Bexleyheath, said he counts himself lucky to be alive after hearing his passengers planning to stab him in the neck during the journey from Dartford to Eltham.

His boss at Broadway Express, Ray Chhokar said: “We signed up to making sure the public get home safely after a night out.

“But who looks after our safety?”

When Mr Kantharuban collected his passengers, two girls were followed by three youths who were obviously drunk.

He said: “I didn’t want to turn them away in case they did anything.”

He dropped one couple in North Cray, leaving a girl and two youths in the back of the car.

When they got to Eltham, Mr Kantharuban had to get out of the cab to move the extra seat so his passengers could get out.

One of the passengers punched him in the face, before they walked off without paying .

Mr Kantharuban managed to get back in his cab and press the panic button.

He was taken by ambulance to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich, where he was given a bowl to catch the blood pouring from his mouth and no painkillers, as he waited four hours to be x-rayed.

X-rays revealed his jaw bone had been broken in half and there was another break on the side of his face.

He had to make his own way to King’s College Hospital for emergency surgery, after being told he would have to wait another three hours for an ambulance.

He has had steel plates inserted into his jawbone and his jaws wired shut to help heal the side fracture.

This is his first serious assault after four years as a cab driver.

Now he is looking for another job.

A 20-year-old man from Welling is currently on police bail after being arrested on suspicion of causing GBH.