A Sikh taxi driver was verbally and physically abused in Reading.

Vaneet Singh, aged 41, had been driving a group of four white male passengers back from the city’s Grosvenor Casino when one of them tried to remove his turban and asked him: “Are you Taliban?”.

The incident happened on Sunday (September 20) morning.

He was also repeatedly kicked and punched from the back of his driver’s seat as he drove along the A33 in the early hours of the morning despite the passengers being well-behaved at the beginning of the journey.

Mr Singh, who lives in Tilehurst with his wife and three young children, said he had turned to taxi driving after the coronavirus pandemic put his job as a music teacher at a school in Slough on hold.

He said: “It was horrible, really frightening, I will never work the nightshift again. I'm still very scared. It’s a very bad experience. It’s my religion so I respect my turban.”

Mr Singh believes that the attack was a hate crime which was racist in nature and has been suffering from aches and pains caused by the incident.

Thames Valley Police are investigating the assault and appealed for witnesses however no arrests have been made as of yet.