Taxi bosses threatened to quit the streets of Pendle after a driver claimed he was beaten up and had his cab vandalised in a racist attack.

Imtiaz Hussain said he was assaulted and the front window of his car smashed after he picked up a fare outside a night club in Nelson.

Police confirmed they were investigating an attack on a taxi which was possibly racially motivated.

The married cabbie, 37, has worked the streets for the last six years but said the weekends attack was the first time he had experienced racism.

Cabbies said if the situation did not improve they would consider withdrawing services.

Chairman of the Pendle Hackney Carriage Association, Mushtaq Ahmed, said: "Imtiaz had just picked up a group of four people when one of them started giving him racist abuse and when he asked them to stop they broke his rear view mirror.

"After that, when he had stopped, the front windscreen was also smashed and he was attacked.

"This is a problem which seems to be getting worse recently. We have never had a problem before and relations in Pendle have always been good.

"Incidents like this are not something we will stand for and we just hope there is not a more serious incident.

"I'm sure it is only a few people who act like this and that it is only a very small minority of people in Pendle, but something needs to be done.

Mr Hussain, who lives in Nelson, said: "I have worked as a taxi driver for six years in Pendle and never experienced anything like this before, it was a very scary experience."

Taxi drivers met with Pendle Council and the police to discuss ways of clamping down on racism against drivers.

Earlier this year council bosses warned they would take action to protect taxi drivers after a spate of abuse against Asian cabbies.

Pendle Council, the authority responsible for setting fares for hackney carriage taxis in the borough, claims increased abuse began following an incident when a 90-year-old patient was overcharged for a short taxi ride.

Bradley councillor Mohammed Iqbal said: "We will be working together with the police to make sure action is taken against anyone who commits offences like this one on people going about their livelihood."