A drunken thug who robbed a cabbie of his car and then led police on a dangerous chase has been jailed for five years.

Grant Stone hired Mohammed Patwary’s taxi outside Sevenoaks railway station late at night on April 27 and asked to be taken to Gillingham.

But as Mr Patwary drove along the M25 towards Orpington Stone told him to stop and grabbed the steering wheel.

He attacked the driver, forced him out of the Peugeot 407 and drove off, leaving behind one of his shoes, Maidstone Crown Court heard.

Mr Patwary, who had only been a taxi driver for about a month, fell out of the car and was then kicked by 34-year-old Stone.

Stone, of Court Lodge Road, Gillingham, denied robbery, and gave a “nonsense” account of being put in a “hypnotic trance” and being kidnapped by the victim.

He admitted dangerous driving, drink-driving and having no insurance.

"(your driving) was very dangerous indeed and could have been life-threatening" – judge jeremy carey

Following his conviction, the jury heard about his catalogue of previous offending involving motoring offences.

Stone said he had been drinking and claimed he hired the taxi outside Maidstone West station and not Sevenoaks.

He was told the fare home would be £20, he said, but was driven towards Orpington with the meter showing £90.

When the driver refused to stop, he continued, he grabbed the steering wheel and the keys and drove off.

But prosecutor Catherine Donnelly said CCTV footage from both stations showed he was “lying through his teeth”.

Declaring Stone he had been convicted on the clearest possible evidence, Judge Jeremy Carey said: “It is a bad case. You attacked a vulnerable young man, a taxi driver doing his job at night expecting and hoping he had a fare who would behave himself and not cause trouble, and finding something very different.

“A man who drank too much and was unpredictable and behaved in an extraordinary and violent way. The public are entitled to expect that people who behave like that will go straight to prison for a substantial period.”

The judge said Stone’s driving was “quite appalling”, adding: “I suspect you cannot remember much about it. It was very dangerous indeed and could have been life-threatening.”

Stone was jailed for four years two months for robbery and 10 months consecutive for dangerous driving. He was banned from driving for four years.”