A TAXI driver from Swindon told a jury how a teenage passenger smashed a brick into his face in a late-night attack.

Abdullah Jan said the 15-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, left him with a fractured cheek bone.

Mr Jan said the boy had told him he did not have money for the ride as they approached their destination so he took him back to the pick-up point.

Swindon Crown Court heard that before the assault took place the boy told a friend he was going to hit a taxi driver with a brick.

The boy denies grievous bodily harm with intent claiming he was acting in self-defence.

Mr Jan told the jury of seven men and five women how he picked up the boy close to the Whitehouse Bridge after midnight on May 27. He said the boy, who had a bag over his shoulder, asked to go to Wroughton but as they crossed the motorway bridge, he said he needed the toilet and asked to stop at a pub.

The driver told the court that made him suspicious so he asked for the boy's mobile phone as security. When he refused the driver said he was taking him to the police station in Swindon.

But when he got back into town Mr Jan said he realised it was busy and going to the police would take too long.

Instead he dropped the boy at the corner of Manchester Road and Corporation Street, near where he picked him up.

He said he got out and opened the rear door before getting back into the driver's seat. "I went to move the car and I felt a very bad hit on my left-hand side," Mr Jan said.

With blood pouring from his head, he said, he got out of the car and chased the youth, who lashed out a few more times with the bag, before grabbing hold of Mr Jan.

Mr Jan said he realised there was something hard in the bag and was helped by passers-by, who called the police and ambulance.

As he walked back to the cab, he said, the boy tried to throw the bag into a building site but didn't get it over the wall.

At hospital Mr Jan was found to have a depressed fracture of the cheek bone.

Andrew Hobson, defending, suggested the driver was angry at losing the fare from his client and was not in the cab when he was struck.

The case continues.