A street cleaner was seriously injured in an attack as he picked up rubbish in broad daylight.
The 50-year-old was left with a gaping wound to his head when a thug punched him from behind on Glasgow Road, Paisley and he cracked his head on a concrete bollard.
The man needed multiple staples to close the gash on his head at the town's Royal Alexandra Hospital.
Police investigating the frightening incident at 1.30pm on Sunday say it was completely unprovoked and they are scouring CCTV to try and identify the culprit, the Paisley Daily Express reports.
And they also are also appealing to anyone who may have witnessed the attack to contact them immediately.
Inspector Tracy Harkins, from Paisley police office, said: " "This despicable assault on a man simply going about his work appears to have been completely unprovoked.
"No person should be subjected to violence while they work and this will not be tolerated within our community.
"I would urge anyone with information on what happened to contact police.
"If you were driving in the area around the time, I'd ask that you review dashcam footage to see if you captured anything that may be useful to our investigation."
Anyone with information should call police on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
A Renfrewshire Council spokesman said: "We condemn this shocking and unprovoked attack and are supporting the member of staff involved.
"Nobody should have to deal with assault of any kind when just out doing their job.
"The incident took place on a busy main road in the middle of the day.
"Our community safety team are helping police with access to CCTV, and we would appeal to anyone who has information that could help catch the attacker to contact the local police."
