Passengers today hit a taxi driver over the head and set fire to his car’s passenger seat in Wolverhampton.

It was the second such incident in less than a week in the Pendeford area, according to cabbies.

Firefighters were called to Pendeford Avenue, Claregate, near the road’s Co-op store shortly before 2am.

They praised a motorist who helped to put the fire out before it could reach the fuel tank.

One of the men sitting in the back of the red Ford Mondeo estate car is believed to have set fire to the passenger seat as they fled. It is not yet known how many men were involved.

The driver gave chase but they beat him around the head, causing injuries which needed hospital treatment.

Watch commander David Foley of Wolverhampton fire station said: “Non-paying passengers set the fire and then ran away.”

An operator for a taxi firm, who asked not to be named, said: “It is getting very dangerous in Wolverhampton.”