A MAN has spoken of the horrifying moment he was attacked by two thugs after he asked them to stop swearing.

The 30-year-old victim may never regain the feeling in his face following the savage attack at Rochford railway station, and he needs a metal plate to be inserted in his broken jaw.

The man, who is from Westcliff but asked not to be named for fear of reprisals, said he was on the station platform when he heard a man shouting down the phone at a friend called Fordy, who had apparently failed to turn up to meet him.

He said: “It was all pretty much obscene language I don’t want my partner listening to. I spoke to one of them and asked if he’d mind keeping his language down.

“The one on the phone came off it and punched me in the side of the face.”

He backed off and said “I don’t want a fight”, but both men decided to lay into him until he blacked out at about 10.45pm on Saturday, June 6, and woke to find his teeth knocked out of line.

He said: “The bottom left corner of my mouth is numb down towards my chin, and my two front teeth are very numb. The doctor said I may never get the feeling back.”

He has had several appointments at Basildon Hospital, which have affected his studies for a diploma in personal fitness.

He added: “I’m in a lot of pain when I sleep. In the morning it takes about an hour before I can even get my mouth open to get some breakfast in, and when I do it’s just porridge.”

The attack has also made him wary of groups of men who may start a fight for no apparent reason.

“Nowadays you only have to look at someone and they’ll go off into a frenzy of violence when you least expect it,” he said.

“It’s made me more conscious of what I’m doing, who I’m looking at, and how I’m looking at them.”

Police are looking for a white man, with brown shaven hair, who is of stocky build and approximately 5ft 8ins tall.

He had freckles and was wearing a purple shirt, which would have been badly ripped in the scuffle, blue jeans and white trainers.

The second man is described as white, slim, in his late teens, with spiked hair and dark eyes. He is approximately 5ft 7ins tall and was wearing a white V-neck T-shirt and blue jeans.

It is believed they were travelling towards Southend, and could possibly have got into a taxi.

Anyone with information is asked to call British Transport Police on freephone 0800 405040 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.