Police are closing in on the men who attacked a taxi driver on Saturday night, but still want to speak to a couple of good samaritans.

Detective Sergeant David Thompson said police "have a couple of good lines of inquiry to make".

He said they would not be releasing any camera footage of the attack because they did not want to alert the suspects.

"We are positive we will get to the bottom of this."

The Palmerston North Taxis driver was attacked outside West End School at 11.30pm after picking up two male passengers from College St.

A taxi from the same company carrying two passengers came to the man's aid and police want to talk to the passengers as well as a motorist who passed by during the attack.

The attack has been condemned by the company's operations manager Nigel Kinniburgh, who called the offenders "idiots".

Mr Kinniburgh said the driver was not at work yesterday, but that was not unusual because he did not normally work on a Monday.

He would return to work quickly and the company would be offering him support.

"He wants to try and put this behind him and start to move on," he said.

The men, described as being in their mid to late teens, of slim to medium build and wearing hooded sweatshirts, demanded money from the driver, before beating him about the head and body.

The driver attempted to bring attention to the attack by sounding his horn.

Police have issued a request for anyone who has information - or who saw the men being picked up by the taxi from College St, near the Ada St intersection - or who heard or witnessed anything of the attack at West End School, to contact them as soon as possible.

- © Fairfax NZ News