A DRUNKEN teenager held a plastic gun to the head of a taxi driver and attacked him. Daryl Marston hailed the cab in Hylton Road and was driven to his flat in Tenbury Wells.

He did not have the money to pay the fare and got into an argument with cabbie Zabir Hussain, said prosecutor Delroy Henry.

The 18-year-old factory worker held the gun at his temple, threatened him with a baseball bat and punched him in the face before he managed to drive off.

Marston, of Crescent Place, Tenbury, pleaded guilty to attempted robbery, having an imitation firearm and offensive weapon and common assault.

Marston was sentenced to a 12-month detention and training order. Worcester Crown Court heard that the teenager drank eight or nine pints of lager before going out and consuming another five pints in the city.

He hailed the taxi just after midnight on October 10 last year. Mr Henry said the frightening incident made Mr Hussain reluctant to drive at night or weekends.

Marston's alcohol binge had led to "drink-induced madness", said Michael Duck, defending. He was sacked from his £200-a-week job as a result of the offence and had abstained from alcohol ever since.

Marston, he said, was a mild-mannered, hard-working lad with no previous convictions but had drunk to excess on one occasion.

Recorder Barbara Carter said the courts had a duty to protect taxi drivers from people who had been binge drinking.

Marston's actions had been fuelled by alcohol and he intended to threaten and frighten Mr Hussain before the unprovoked attack, she added.