Melbourne Uber driver rushed to hospital after being attacked by group of armed thieves

A Melbourne Uber driver was pulled from his vehicle and violently assaulted overnight as a group of armed thieves targeted him while he was asleep.

Fazal Rehman, 33, had completed a ride-sharing trip with a customer near Barton Street in Surrey Hills, east of Melbourne’s CBD, when he decided to pull over for a quick nap.

The driver woke to thieves armed with metal poles smashing his car’s windows.

“They were just demanding, ‘just get out of the car’,” he told 9NEWS.

“(They) punched me, were kicking me, my face, head – all my body.

“They were pulling at me, ripping off my jumper, my shirt.”

The group used a metal pole to pierce the driver’s arms and legs in the savage attack before he was chased onto Whitehorse Road and the attackers fled on foot with his mobile phone.

Fazal managed to hold onto his car keys and staggered towards a well-lit intersection where he was discovered by police and rushed to Box Hill Hospital.

Detectives have since launched an investigation into the attack, returning to the scene today to search for clues, while the driver plans to take time off his work.