Scariest Uber ride ever 😫

Sounds very scary. I'm a black cab only person. Goodness knows who's driving an Uber. Black cab drivers have to jump through all sorts of health and safety hoops as well as rigorous medical checks. I'm very happy to pay a bit more for a black cab.

Some Sat Navs can be terrible and give false information.

Last summer, a hospital transport van had one that told the driver to do a 180 turn at a major crossroads, and go back along a main road we had just come down! Several passengers helped with directions (it should have said turn left) after we’d stopped laughing!

Also, 4 nights ago I had a taxi driver that did not know my area and I had to guide him as the Sat Nav did not show the latest roadworks/closures. Luckily the driver on the way out had told me about them 😁

Yes,thats what i asked him- i said, "what's this,the scenic route? cause this is'nt the quickest way there" but he never answered & just kept going.It cost over £10 for what would have been around a £5-6 trip the quick way in a local taxi.I was livid.Needless to say, at end of the evening i rang local firm myself.I am glad you were safe CrazyH, i would have been worried by myself too.Maybe if theres a next time, stick together with someone and arrange to stay over at their house for the night.Work it out so that No one is in taxi(or Uber) alone.

LOUISA1523

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

I’m sorry that your evening had such an unsettling ending, but this is what makes me feel safe using Uber. I’m sure that the Uber app knows where the car is all of the time.

Where we live, there is no such thing as a ‘local’ taxi company. And most of the drivers are on more than one app, including Uber. It was a well known local taxi driver that murdered two women in Swindon. And a foul black cab driver committed many serious assaults on women in London. And it seems a bit harsh to judge the taxi driver on where he can afford to live.

I’m sure we’ve always had times when a satnav takes us down narrow little roads that it thinks are quicker or shorter. I think I would have called someone for a chat as others have said, but also if you just open Google maps on your phone, you can see exactly where you are, which is helpful, especially at night when it is easy to lose your bearings, even if you are not far from home.

It seems to have been wearing gold jewellery that made you most worried. If you genuinely think your jewellery is valuable enough for it to be worth someone robbing you in this way, perhaps you should think about when and where you choose to wear it? It’s not worth it if it makes you anxious is it?

Definitely agree use a more reputable company another time, also and personally best for a woman on her own not left in the cab alone especially so late, and wearing jewellery on show.
I’m surprised your daughter or someone didn’t phone as you were such a long time overdue?

And yes, AuntieE, you still have to pay what they are charging.

If i'd been out with my sons and D.I.L one of my sons at least would have made sure that THEY were last dropped off,not me, just to make sure i was home safe, even if they went a bit out of their way, or made me sleep at their house.

How/why do Lancashire taxi drivers get a wolverhampton license? I just googled that its just over 2 hours from me (NorthWest) and mostly Lancashire taxis are licensed by Lancashire County Council, or Greater Manchester.

Or West Lancashire borough council or individual city councils for new licenses

I’m sorry you had such a scary ride. I would have been nervous, especially when I noticed we were going the wrong way. I try to only use local taxi firms

Just to make you smile (because it amused us), my husband and I and our youngest daughter were in Poland last week, somewhere we’d never been before. We had to queue for 3 hours to get through passport control so were tired and decided to get a taxi to our hotel. Our taxi driver was very chatty and friendly and told us it would cost 120 zloty, which is around £25. When we were leaving we got the hotel to book a taxi to the airport. It cost 45 zloty 😂 We think the first driver was so chatty in the hopes that we would ring him for our next journey and not notice the cost.

Thankyou all for your replies.
My family knows, as soon as I return home, my first move is to the loo, then the kettle. My d.i.l. probably thought that I was enjoying my cuppa and forgot to call her. I always ring them when I get back home. I did call her once I settled down.
Yes Lahlah it isn’t right to judge people on where they live …my apologies.
I don’t often go to fancy places, so, this was a chance for me to dress up and wear my beautiful Indian gold jewellery 😂

How scary for you OP. Glad you got home safe in the end.

DD travels a lot for work in this country and abroad and Now Always takes a photo of any Taxi/Uber the car reg, other information and the driver and then tells the driver she has sent a Whatsapp to her parents, and she does send us a message.

I thought if I had to use a Taxi/Uber I'd follow her lead and do the same saying I've sent it message to DD.

She has said in the past that she felt safer in Taxis in China than in London and she is in London most weeks.

You need to write a review on the Uber site saying what happened. It will warn others and stop women booking him

I only use known taxi firms.

Mainly because I don’t know how to order an Uber.
You can’t just ring up, can you?

Anyway, I’m sticking to what I’m used to and I’m comfortable with.

Maybe next time be the first to be dropped off?

14:57Nannan2

How/why do Lancashire taxi drivers get a wolverhampton license? I just googled that its just over 2 hours from me (NorthWest) and mostly Lancashire taxis are licensed by Lancashire County Council, or Greater Manchester.

I had a taxi pickup in the midlands and the driver said he was from Lincolnshire. He explained that his taxi licence or whatever it was they apply for, is dearer in Lincolnshire and it makes more sense financially to do taxi runs in the Midlands even allowing for his petrol from his home town. He said it's a common thing that taxi drivers do.

CrazyH - I can fully understand your fear. I was solo in a taxi late one night about 20yrs ago and the driver was going a very long way round so I challenged him and said I know the route and this isn't it. After a heated discussion where neither of us would back down, he stopped the cab and told me to either get out or shut up! Needless to say, I got out after giving him some of the fare that was on his meter and brisk walked the opposite way from where he stopped. Luckily I knew a bit of a short cut to get on a main road and then called a friend who picked me up. This was a black cab. I've had a nasty incident with Uber recently so won't touch them either. I avoid taxis as much as possible.

Momac55

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 !!!!

My own sat nav often seems to think that the winding country lanes are better than an A-road. Maybe he'd opted for the most direct route which can actually be miles longer!

I think it must have felt wonderful to get a chance to wear your lovely jewellery but maybe it's a good idea to remove it before you leave the venue if you're going to be travelling home alone. On other hand, I have a friend who has - and nearly always wears - diamonds worth hundreds of thousands. Her argument for wearing it constantly is that she reckons nobody would believe it was real!

I always talk to someone on my phone when I get in a cab late at night, it’s usually one of the people I’ve just left that I chat to.
And I always say “ I should be home soon around another 10 mins” just so the driver can hear. I’d say always be on phone to someone in future. Ubers are probably safer than normal cabs as everything can be tracked.

Lahlah65. To be clear, I was just stating a fact when I said the Uber drivers operating in this town all seem to come from Manchester. I was certainly not judging them on ‘where they can afford to live.’ Why would you assume that?

Mae13. You're right, my local council won't allow licenses for Uber so we see many licensed from Wolverhampton or Knowsley. I wouldn't risk it.

My local authority is very particular about issuing licences. All drivers have full background checks etc and until recently only they were allowed to operate here. Some time ago the council voted to allow Uber to operate here - they had been around for some time thanks to a loophole in the regulations. They are all licensed elsewhere. Some are labelled Uber but have other names on them as well. Most drivers seem to be foreign and quite honestly to me they all look alike so their identification badges would be no help to me. Periodically the council checks taxis for faults and I think only once was a fault found on a locally licensed taxi. Faults seem to be found on those registered elsewhere. I always use the same local firm.

It sounds really scary CrazyH I d have been terrified too but just to equalise it my grandaughter lost her purse, she’d no idea where she’d lost it or left it ….a couple of days later the uber driver arrived at her address with her completely intact purse he had found it down the back seat of his car
He was a young driver and was not English
Good and bad in all walks of life but yes yours was a horrible experience and I feel for you

I'm so sorry that this happened to you .
I would have been scared out of my wits as well .
In taking you on a magical mystery tour -was he he trying to bump up the fare ?

Please report him before some other lady has the same experience.

I only use a local taxi firm and I've come unstuck a couple of times .
The manager has apologised to me and asked me to give them feed back on nice helpful taxi drivers which I do .

Some years ago I took one of their taxis to the airport to pick up a relative .
It was broad daylight and he began to turn the journey into a tour .
I told him which roads to take and he took them .
Unable to get another ride home and both of us feeling really ill with flu we were obliged to use him to go home.
He drove up and down all sorts of streets on a massive detour .
I frankly thought that he was on drugs .
Since then I've reported one of their drivers for rudeness and aggression. I won't get into the car with him .
I always have my phone charged and at hand .

Your journey did sound worrying crazyH
However using Uber isn’t all bad
When you set up an account there are several safety features you can add.
Whenever I use them my husband will get a notification of all the details.
Another advantage is that you know the cost upfront so they can’t take a longer route to make it more expensive