POLICE are investigating after a taxi driver was assaulted and robbed in Yate.

It happened as the driver was dropping a customer home from a journey from Bristol at at 4am yesterday (Sunday, March 9).

A police spokesman said "A taxi driver had picked up a customer outside the Bristol Hippodrome and dropped him off on Church Road in Yate.

"As the customer was dropped off he then smashed the driver’s window and assaulted him before taking the fare he had paid and other money in the vehicle.

"The customer then ran off by jumping over a fence leading to Canterbury Close and while doing so dropped some of the money he had stolen.

"Fortunately the driver was not seriously injured in the robbery."

An investigation has been launched. House-to-house inquiries have been completed in the area and CCTV is also being examined. The suspect is described as a white man, aged around 30-years-old, six feet tall, of a medium build and with light coloured hair. He was wearing a light blue shirt and blue jeans.

Anyone who witnessed the robbery should contact Avon and Somerset Constabulary on 101 and quote 23959/14 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

The incident follows another assault on a taxi driver in the town last month. A van driver stopped a taxi near the B&Q roundabout in the early hours of Sunday, February 16 and physically assaulted the driver leaving him requiring hospital treatment.