A TAXI driver has been blinded in one eye after being hit in the face by a drunk passenger's stiletto heel.

Afaq Iftikhar, 32, says he was attacked by a woman and her friends after picking them up in Birmingham.

Dad-of-three Afaq was rushed to hospital where he underwent a four-hour operation.

But doctors were unable to save his eye and now he fears he could lose his job.

The driver recalled how he was attacked at 4.30am on Saturday after picking four women and a man up in his cab from the Arcadian Centre.

Mr Iftikhar - originally from Pakistan - says the situation turned sour after one woman began being sick.

He pulled over by a Spar shop in St Martin's Square before allegedly spotting the girl "stealing money from the front of the cab".

He said: "I told them I would call the police, and then the guy and girls threatened me.

"They were saying 'what're you gonna do?' I told them to go and not pay but they attacked me.

"I told them to take what they wanted and leave me alone, one of them took my car keys."

The cabbie said the female passenger being sick then attacked him with her stiletto shoe, rupturing his right eye. Two other passengers then began punching him.

Mr Iftikhar was also left with gashes to his head from the group who he says stole money from the taxi.

The taxi driver said: "I'm in really bad shape right now, my world has been turned upside down by this.

"I don't know what I am going to do or how I am going to look after my kids.

"I am not a British citizen, I can't get any benefits to help me now.

"The doctor is keeping me in for observation, but he could register me as legally blind."