A couple in their sixties were left battered and bruised after they were subjected to a brutal attack outside a train station.

The grandparents, who do not want to be identified, were punched, kicked and stamped on by two men and a woman as they were heading home from Benfleet railway station.

The man, 67, who works in maintenance, was jumped as he left the station following a night shift in London after catching an early morning train from Fenchurch Street.

He noticed he was being followed by a man, a passenger on the same train, who hit him as he was walking down the station steps.

The man’s wife, 61, who was waiting to pick him up in the car, ran to help, but was pushed to the floor in the unprovoked assault.

Their daughter-in-law, 37, from Canvey, said: “We don’t really know what happened beforehand.

“A guy started an argument with him as he was getting off the train, followed him out of the station and then attacked him at the bottom of the steps.

“A couple who were also on the train decided to join in for no reason.

“It’s sick, I think they must have just got some kind of thrill from it. My father-in-law said they were completely separate from each other.

“As my mother-in-law rushed to help, she was pushed to the floor.

She had a bag gash to the back of her head and she might have something wrong with her jaw.

“It was completely unprovoked.

My father-in-law is just so laidback and gentle, he wouldn’t hurt a fly.

“They are both very shaken up and very scared.

“I can’t believe this has happened.

It’s shocking.”

After the attackers ran off, the couple, who live off Link Road in Canvey, were taken to hospital by ambulance with cuts and bruises to their face and bodies.

The woman needed surgery for a broken ankle following the attack at 9am on Monday.

Their daughter-in-law, who works as a personal assistant in London, added: “We just hope someone might have seen something on Monday morning, if they were driving past or saw someone running away. I would urge them to call police.

“It’s just hideous, you never think this will happen to you.”