A PICTURE of the bruised and battered face of a taxi driver who was attacked and left for dead is highlighted in the Bolton Evening News on Thursday.

Mohammed Amjad, aged 37, was punched in the head by a man wearing a knuckleduster inside his minibus. He managed to get out only to be caught and kicked and punched repeatedly.

His jaw is broken in seven places and some of his teeth are missing.

Today his wife Rashid, aged 33, said her husband, a father of three, would not be driving taxis at night again.

She said: "I think he will be too scared but I'm scared as well. I wouldn't want him to drive at night again. We haven't talked much about it yet because I don't want to influence his decision."

Mr Amjad's children, Tuyyab, aged nine, Irram, aged six, and two-year-old Usman have visited their dad in Blackburn's Royal Infirmary at the specialist facial unit.

Mrs Amjad said: "Usman is really close to his dad and is always with him. But when we went to see him, he just hid behind my legs. He didn't know it was his dad.

"He is very weak, it took two if us to get him out of bed to walk." A scan yesterday revealed the victim's face was too swollen to operate on. It is hoped a further scan today will give the go-ahead for surgeons to operate and reconstruct his jaw with wires.

Mr Amjad, of Westbourne Avenue, Great Lever, has worked as a private hire driver for Bradshawgate's Link Taxis for four years. He picked five men and three women from the taxi office and dropped two off in Little Lever.

The group had pre-paid the fare. Mr Amjad then drove the group to Little Hulton at 3am on Sunday. They asked to be dropped off near to Peel Park when the attack happened.

A fellow taxi driver found Mr Amjad unconscious on the pavement near to the junction of Park Way and Kenyon Way.

CCTV images of the group in the taxi office are being studied by police.