Scariest Uber ride ever 😫

What were you scared of? Did anything happen?

I'm glad you are okay

CrazyH I would have been scared too, I hope you have recovered from your ordeal.
Reminds me of a taxi I got into late at night outside the Cape Town Conference Centre. I saw my friends, who were staying within walking distance, pointing and laughing at the bald tyres and the state of the cab, which took ages to start the engine. I gave the address of my hotel, and as soon as we had driven away from the centre, the driver told me he could take me on a tour of the townships. I said no, take me straight to my hotel, and an argument ensued. He did eventually, very reluctantly, take me to the hotel, but I count myself lucky. This was one month before the Shrien Diwani episode where they were taken on a township tour and the new bride was dragged out of the car and murdered.

A 15 minute journey taking 40 minutes is scary, am wondering if there was a diversion?
Next time ask the driver before you get in the cab if there are any diversions/hold ups and how long it will approximately take because by your reckoning it should be about 15 mins.

B9exchange

CrazyH I would have been scared too, I hope you have recovered from your ordeal.
Reminds me of a taxi I got into late at night outside the Cape Town Conference Centre. I saw my friends, who were staying within walking distance, pointing and laughing at the bald tyres and the state of the cab, which took ages to start the engine. I gave the address of my hotel, and as soon as we had driven away from the centre, the driver told me he could take me on a tour of the townships. I said no, take me straight to my hotel, and an argument ensued. He did eventually, very reluctantly, take me to the hotel, but I count myself lucky. This was one month before the Shrien Diwani episode where they were taken on a township tour and the new bride was dragged out of the car and murdered.

This sounds even scarier. 🫣

argymargy - to put it bluntly, I was scared that he would kill me 😡 or manhandle me and take my jewellery xx
JaneJudge - I am fine, thankyou xx
B9exchange what an awful experience and in Capetown 😱

Yes, I remember the Shrien Diwali case 🥲

Always best to use a "known" taxi firm. The bad guys will sometimes target someone who is unfamiliar with their location.

I still recall an Italian lodger of mine many years back asking a friend of mine I'd told her was a local taxidriver whether her parents visiting from Italy had been charged a fair amount (as she didnt think it was). My friend went ballistic - as I think they were charged about ten times the proper price - as they'd obviously been seen as good targets for theft. He made sure to advise her to use his firm for future reference.

Where I am now I've got a regular taxi firm I use and know many of the drivers by now - and the boss.

When I revisit my home city - I make sure to throw in a couple of comments along the lines of "This is the firm my friend used to work for" or "That's changed since last time I came back for a home visit and that was only x time ago (ie recent)" so they don't try anything on - as it's obvious it's my city and I know it well.

CariadAgain -👍

Well, it has been raised in recent weeks that Wolverhampton Licensing Authority will issue drivers with a taxi license and not too many questions asked. Hence there has been a surge in applications from all parts of the country. Nearly every taxi in Lancashire seems to have a Wolverhampton authorisation disc.

So God alone knows who's behind the wheel of your taxi, but apparently there's to be an investigation.

Whoever books the uber has got confirmation of the name, car and reg plate ...so unlikely for the driver to try anything....but not nice for you I get that.
Our scariest uber drive was at 3am in morning to airport...I think the driver was too tired to be driving...he was all over the road ....I thought we were going to crash ...it was a long 40 minutes

That's sounds scary.
I hate being in a taxi on my own, having to watch for every unusual change of route taken, or worrying about excessive speed, or getting out my phone to cover all eventualities.
I'm glad you were OK, if shaken up.

I would have been scared too and I’m glad you got home safely. Could you leave feedback? I have noticed that the Uber driver who should arrive is sometimes someone completely different so I suspect they share the jobs. In this NW town all the Uber drivers seem to come from the Manchester area and are registered in Wolverhampton. They are usually ok but often speak little English. The last one I had had a filthy car and he absolutely stank. Will stick to local firms in future.

I would have been terrified too! Thank goodness you ended up safe and well. A reminder to us all to use known taxi firms instead of Ubers.

I just do not understand why you did not ask him why he was taking this very indirect route?

Ubers are illegal in Denmark, so I have no experience of them, but I have more than once had to query the route a taxi driver was taking. On these occasions it was very obvious that the driver was taking the long way round on purpose and not because there were diversions.

Surely you did not pay him for more than the 15 minutes the trip should have taken?

Proper taxi only - not worth the worry.

Report him to UBER. All UBER drivers have Sat Nav’s so there was no reason for him to ‘get lost’. They are introducing driverless UBERS which I think might be the way to go.

Don’t be ridiculous. He went down dark country lanes instead of the A road and took nearly 3 times longer than needed. Would you not have been scared, a woman on her own fgs !!!!

Exactly. Report him to uber . At least they won’t match you with him again . I reported a driver once and that’s what they said to me

Scary. I think I would have rung family member saying something like - no not home yet, driver seems to be taking the scenic route - and allude to some 'relative' at work at the local police station, keeping the conversation going till home.

Newatthis

Report him to UBER. All UBER drivers have Sat Nav’s so there was no reason for him to ‘get lost’. They are introducing driverless UBERS which I think might be the way to go.

Yes, this. They all have to have Sat Navs. If there was any sort of diversion he should have let you know, but it doesn't sound as though that was the problem. Was his Sat Nav working? Maybe he'd put the wrong postcode it

Glad you are ok I can quite understand how scary that was for you

Sounds awful crazyH. Iffy taxi rides can be a nightmare. Hope you’ve settled after it. x

I think the Ubers do it on purpose because a longer ride-around bumps up the charges- we went to a family party last November, a group of 4 of us) & someone else rang us an Uber (i'd have used a local taxi firm) we never noticed at first,which way it was setting off, as it was getting dark by then & we were talking, we dont live in that county now, so i think the driver thought we didnt know the place- but its where i grew up & know it well- he took us a long way around down winding country lanes and it added about an extra £4 or more onto the fare than the quickest way.