An Uber driver allegedly flew into a rage and smacked a customer’s phone onto the ground after an alleged argument over payment.
Police are investigating reports of an assault which is reported to have happened in Horfield early in the morning of Sunday, October 6.
The alleged victim, a 27-year-old man, claims a driver with ride-hailing app Uber “attacked” him after a night out in Blue Lagoon bar on Gloucester Road.
The man, who wants to remain anonymous, said: “I had a couple of drinks with a friend. We decided to go back home and bought some alcohol to go back with.
“I called Uber from Blue Lagoon at about midnight. We waited about 20 minutes for him to turn up even though the app said he was five minutes away at the start.
“Then he rang me and said he was outside. He told me his app wasn’t working and asked for my phone so he could fix the fare.”
After a five-minute journey to the man’s home, the driver allegedly said: “You owe me.”
‘I will take you back to Blue Lagoon then’
The customer told Bristol Live: “He was saying I had to pay him £15 in cash because Uber wasn’t working.
“I told him he hadn’t explained that when I got in. I was willing to pay, but I didn’t want to get double-charged, so I asked for a receipt. He refused.
“I went on the Uber app and it said the driver had cancelled the trip when I’d given him my phone at the start of the journey. That gave him a £6 cancellation fee.”
When the customer insisted that he would not hand over cash without a receipt, the driver allegedly said: “I will take you back to Blue Lagoon then.”
The alleged victim added: “At this point my friend was in the house because she really needed a pee, so she’d taken the keys.
“The guy started to drive away while I was still in the car. I opened the door to get out, but he reached around and grabbed my bag,” he claimed.
“I was like, ‘That’s theft.’ I said I would take a photo of his licence plate and got out of the car.
“He jumped out of his side, ran over and smacked my phone out of my hand while I was taking the photo.”
The customer claims the phone’s screen protector and the bottles in his bag smashed on the ground.
“The driver pushed me and went into a bit of a rage,” he continued.
“When I said I would ring police, he drove away.”
‘Final warning’
The customer said he then called Uber and explained the situation, before the firm put him on hold for 35 minutes, he says.
“They told me they’d get someone to look into it,” he continued.
“Then the next day I tried to book a ride and I’d been blocked on the app.”
The customer claims he spoke to an Uber employee on the phone and was told he had been blocked after the driver reported him for “threatening behaviour”.
The firm reactivated his account but handed him a ‘final warning’, he says.
The alleged victim says he has never seen anything like the incident outside his home.
“I was a bit angry,” he added.
“Taxi drivers and Uber drivers are the people who are meant to get you home with nothing to worry about.”
He does not feel Uber has taken the incident seriously. He claims the company is yet to provide a response to his complaint about the driver.
The customer has been refunded the £6 cancellation fee. He says the incident has cost him £20 because of the bottles in his bag and screen protector smashing.
He says he had to wash his bag three times to get rid of the spilled alcohol.
What the police and Uber say
An Avon and Somerset police spokesman said: “I can confirm we had a report just after 2am on October 6, which is being investigated as a potential assault.
“It was an altercation over a taxi fare. The victim was not injured. We are at the early stages of the investigation.”
An Uber spokeswoman said: “There is no place for this kind of behaviour in the Uber community. We take all reports very seriously and investigate thoroughly.
“During investigations we typically remove a driver’s access to the app, and if the allegations prove true, an individual would likely face deactivation. We work closely with the police to assist with any investigation.”
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