KNIVES were pulled on two taxi drivers in separate incidents which are being linked by police.

At 3.45am on Saturday, a taxi driver from Birmingham picked up three men from Deelands Road in Rubery before driving them to Batchley.

The driver was asked to stop in Willow Way where the man in the passenger seat threatened him with a knife and stole his mobile phone, cash and car keys.

The men then got out of the car and ran off towards Batchley pond.

At 7am the same morning, a taxi driver from Redditch collected three men from Batchley.

They asked to go to Alvechurch and as they arrived, asked to continue on to Rubery, paying the driver in advance.

When the driver the arrived at Deelands Road, one of the men pulled a knife from his coat but did not make any verbal threats.

DC Steve Dale, of Redditch police, said: "Thankfully this type of incident does not happen very often but we do want taxi drivers locally to be made aware of it and to be on their guard.

"We are also asking them if they can help identify these men by checking back through their records to see if they have taken customers between these two points before.

"We are also appealing to anyone who recognises these men from their descriptions, or noticed them in the Rubery or Batchley areas on Saturday morning, to give us a call."

The man with the knife is white, aged about 20, 5ft 8ins to 5ft 10ins tall and of medium build.

He was clean-shaven with brown hair and was wearing a baseball cap, a dark tracksuit and trainers.

The second man is white, 19 to 20 years old, 5ft 8ins to 5ft 9ins tall and of medium build. He had short brown hair and was wearing a baseball cap, tracksuit and trainers.

The third man was white, in his late teens to early 20s, 5ft 7ins to 5ft 8ins tall and of medium to stocky build. He is believed to have short ginger hair and was wearing a baseball cap, tracksuit and trainers.

Anyone with information can call police on 08457 444888 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.