A taxi driver has been flown from Hastings to Wellington Hospital after an apparent robbery and assault late last night.

Police said emergency services were alerted about 11.20pm, understood to be from within the taxi company, that a taxi had been found abandoned in Yarmouth Rd, Flaxmere.

The driver was found about the same time and rushed to the Hawke's Bay Fallen Soldiers Memorial Hospital, with serious injuries.

It appeared the taxi had been stolen and dumped and Yarmouth Rd soon afterwards, and police were today seeking any information that could be linked to the incident.

Media staff at Te Whatu Ora Te Matau a Māui, Hawke's Bay (formerly the Hawke's Bay District Health Board) said a man in his 60s had been flown to Wellington Hospital for surgery.