A furious British tourist allegedly bit a taxi driver's face in a row over fare in Thailand.

James William, 55, had hailed cabbie Weerapol Duangsuwan, 30, to drive him home to his hotel after a night partying in the notorious sex tourism city of Pattaya in the early hours of January 28.

However, the drunk Brit allegedly launched a frenzied attack on the Thai driver while he was trying to collect the fare.

He is said to have headbutted him, leaving him with a black eye and multiple bruises before sinking his teeth into his face causing blood to spurt across the cabbie's pickup truck.

Officers in the Nong Prue district arrested James and later took both him and Weerapol to the Bang Lamung Hospital for treatment.

Speaking about the incident, the battered taxi driver Weerapol said that the tourist had tried to leave without paying him.

He said: 'The man asked to stop the car saying he needed to urinate. I saw him walking toward the beachfront, but then he hopped on a motorcycle taxi and left me behind.'

Weerapol said he chased after his passenger to collect the 171 THB (5 USD) he was owed. He said when he caught up, the motorcycle taxi driver gave him 100 THB (3 USD) but James still refused to pay the remaining 71 THB (2 USD).

Weerapol said he then followed the motorcycle taxi to the tourist's destination - an alley in the Soi Tung Klom-Tarn Man 27 area - and waited outside for James to reemerge with his payment. Minutes later, the holidaymaker still failed to emerge, prompting Weerapol to check on him.

He walked inside the alley - only to find that James and the motorcycle taxi rider had come to blows.

Weerapol added: 'I was shocked and tried to take a video of the fight on my phone for evidence. But the British man noticed me and turned his anger on me. He chased me to my car, where he punched and bit me until I bled.'

Weerapol said he escaped from the rampaging the tourist by running to a resident's house nearby. However, James then allegedly hopped inside his white Mitsubishi cab and rammed it repeatedly against the home, damaging the wall.

Police detained James in custody. They said at first he was 'talking confusingly' and they believe he had been drunk. He was also taken to the hospital to be treated for his injuries.

Lieutenant Colonel Jeerasak Aebphaeng said: 'The British man was taken to hospital and then to the station.

'The two men have both been interviewed and released. We still don't have the British man's passport and we don't know if we will charge him.

'We are waiting for more medical reports then we can mediate with them both. We need medical documents proving the victim's injuries and an evaluation from the doctor which will take around two weeks to get him onto the next step of the case.

'There is also a motorcycle taxi driver who witnessed the incident, who we are still looking for. They may be able to give evidence that can show what happened.'