A Malvern taxi driver was attacked and subjected to racial abuse after he picked up a drunken couple.

David Hodgkins got into an argument with Mohammed Jamil after vomiting in his cab.

He kicked and punched the victim before he and his girlfriend Stacey Harris left the scene without paying the fare, Worcester Crown Court heard.

Hodgkins, aged 21, of Malvern Meadows caravan site, Blackmore Park, Hanley Swan, and Harris, 20, of the same address, pleaded guilty to making off without payment.

The father-of-one also admitted racially aggravated assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Judge Toby Hooper QC fined Harris £100 and said she was on a slippery slope because she had a previous conviction for assaulting a policeman.

The couple entered guilty pleas on the day they were due to face trial by jury.

Tim Green, prosecuting, said they went out drinking in Malvern on October 6 last year and were picked up by Mr Jamil outside the Vaults pub at 2.30am next morning.

As they entered the caravan site, Hodgkins was sick inside the cab and then began rowing with the cabbie.

Mr Green said he knocked the victim to the ground, but his girlfriend was not involved in the violence. Hodgkins' barrister Lee Marklew said he had no previous convictions.

Graeme Simpson, for Harris, said she had a two-year-old daughter and the couple only went out twice a month because they relied on job seekers' allowances and child credit. She told police she was drunk and could not remember what happened.