A CHEF was left stranded in a field in the dead of night after his car was hijacked by two abusive thugs in what police have described as "terrifying" and "cruel" ordeal.

The 26-year-old cook who works at an Indian restaurant and takeaway in West Hanningfield, was forced to deliver meals after the firms' regular driver called in sick on Saturday night.

The man, from East London, made several deliveries through the night but on his penultimate run his car hit a pot-hole and he was forced to use the restaurant owners' car for the final delivery.

He completed the last delivery in South Hanningfield at around 10pm in the blue Peugeot 406, registration number P922 EDP, but became lost in the unfamiliar territory.

By 10.30pm he found himself in what was later discovered by police to be Runwell Road in Wickford. As he studied a map-book he heard a tap on the passenger door window. He looked up to see a woman, white and in her twenties. Immediately the rear passenger door was thrown open and a man leapt into the seat behind him and grabbed him around the throat. A second man opened the terrified driver's door, shoving him into the passenger seat and getting behind the steering wheel.

* See Monday's Echo for full story