The incident occurred on Thursday, October 23, when the students hailed the taxi after a night out at around 3am and left driver Muddasar Khan with facial injuries.
A 21-year-old man and a 23-year-old man have since been arrested in connection with the incident and released on police bail pending further enquiries.
Hafeas Rehman, chairperson of the Sheffield Taxi Trade Association, said that there have been at least three incidents like this against taxi drivers within the past year, and he claims the problem is often linked to racism.
"Any attack is not on. The taxi drivers are doing a difficult job and it is already hard to take people home after they have been drinking," he said.
"I know there are going to be bad apples in any location, but when the language turns to racism and there are physical attacks, it makes it very hard to tolerate."
He added that after this recent attack taxi drivers are now increasingly scared for their own safety, and that the racist attitudes of some passengers are becoming an issue.
The event followed on from an incident earlier in the month in which a Sheffield Hallam University student was the victim of a taxi scam.
This week the Union has been involved with ‘Hail Safer’, a campaign which aims to eliminate problems like this by improving the relationship between the driver and passenger.
The campaign aims to educate students on the importance of taxi safety. It also protects the drivers by encouraging students to respect them.
Kathryn Axon, Welfare Officer at the Union of Students, says it is only a minority of students who are involved in violence against Sheffield taxi drivers.
She said: "The taxi drivers provide a good service and the behaviour is really appalling. Students need to have respect for the drivers."
It is unknown whether the students attended the University of Sheffield or Sheffield Hallam University.
Alexandra Rucki
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