THE victim of a brutal carjacking has told of his terror when a gang of thieves dragged him from his vehicle and beat him up in front of rush hour motorists.

Ross Tillman, 29, said he has been left paranoid and fearful since the incident in Snaresbrook, during which the thugs punched and kicked him to the floor in broad daylight before stealing his £30,000 Mercedes C180 Kompressor.

The incident comes just a year after another frightening attack in nearby Cranbourne Avenue when a woman was also robbed of her Mercedes by two club-wielding thugs - and a week after a Wanstead family had five luxury vehicles stolen from outside their home.

Mr Tillman had pulled up at traffic lights opposite The Eagle pub in Snaresbrook Road last Wednesday, at about 6.20pm, and was getting some papers from the glove compartment when a black man leaned through the open driver's side window and punched him in the face.

The thug was then joined by another black man who helped him as he tried to drag the terrified sales executive out of the car through the window.

While Mr Tillman battled with the pair, a white man put his hand through the open passenger window and pressed a button which unlocked all of the car's doors - allowing the thugs to throw him out onto the road.

No motorists in the cars behind made any attempt to come to his aid, and even drove around him as he lay battered and bruised in the street after the gang had sped off towards South Woodford.

Mr Tillman, of Churchfields, South Woodford, believes the gang had meticulously planned the attack.

He said: "I just can't believe what's happened. You just don't think something like that's going to happen to you.

"It all happened so quickly. I tried to fight back, but these blokes were determined and were punching me and kicking me repeatedly.

"What scares me is that this was not opportunistic. These people had obviously planned this out, and had been watching my routine and knew what kind of time I would arriving at the traffic lights.

"It wouldn't surprise me if they had been watching my house too.

"This has left me paranoid about driving expensive cars now."

Mr Tillman has warned other drivers with luxury cars to stay vigilant at all times.

He said: "If you've got a high performance car you've got to be really careful - simple as that.

"Those thieves hit the jackpot when they stole my car because I'd been at my parents place, and had about £3,500 worth of stuff in there, including a laptop and clothes.

"I'd also advise people to fit a tracker device to their car, because it makes it 85 per cent more likely the police will find it.

"My car was probably out of the country within about four or five hours after the attack."

Mr Tillman praised a passing jogger who saw the attack as he ran towards the lights and gave police descriptions of the men involved.

The first black man is described as about 30 years-old, 6ft 3ins tall with shoulder length braided hair. He was wearing a black hooded top and combat bottoms.

The second black man, was about 20 and wearing a hooded top.

The white man is also thought to be about 20 and was wearing a grey hooded top.

Anyone with information should contact DC Victoria Scammell on: 8345 2610 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on: 0800 555 111.