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Isn’t this just lovely about the Uber ripoff?

An Uber driver charged a drunk passenger £102.17 for a journey, after taking him on a 20-mile detour around London while he slept.
Daniel Kaizen ordered a minicab from Old Street to Wood Green, north London this weekend, a five-mile trip which he said he was told would cost around £15.
But the late-night detour around the capital meant that his journey took five times longer than he expected and the bill came to over £100.

Such things have been happening since the first ox cart took cash for a ride.

But of course now it’s all recorded, the proof is in the servers, the miscreant gets fired and all is safer or late night drunks……

14 thoughts on “Isn’t this just lovely about the Uber ripoff?”

  1. Mmmmm….
    Having been variuosly f****ed around with by drunks over the years, I wouldn’t mind hearing the Uber driver’s sideof the story.

  2. Further encouragement to use Uber. Most of the time you just get a vague unhappy feeling when you’ve been ripped off by a cab driver. And no comeback.

  3. Both parties to Uber should be able to film what goes on. That way–if either is an obnoxious twat– then what happened can be seen by all. And a “Don’t pick this git up in your car–or be warned if you do” list can be established by the drivers. Uber would prove better for both driver and passenger.

  4. Hmmmm…

    In the USA, at least, the price is given and accepted before the driver even picks up the fare.

    And ‘minicab’ – that’s not Uber…

  5. The term “minicab” is generally used within London to refer to a private hire vehicle – which is what Uber is.

    London has an odd restriction that doesn’t apply in the rest of the UK, whereby private hire vehicles are not allowed to use taximeters.

  6. There is a famous story (quite true) of a black cab driver in Cardiff who took a German businessman on a circumnavigation of the city to multiply the fare by a factor of ten. Much agonising about civic reputation ensued. Not Uber of course. Same things happen with an Uber driver: proof positive that we should ban/destroy the model.

  7. He contracted to an agreed price before starting the journey, as per standard private hire licensing law. Taxi driver has committed fraud, forfits license, required to reapply for license, application cannot be delegated, applicant must sit before the baord and explain why he is a fit and proper person.

    Without prejudicing myself (as I’m not longer a licensing board member), I’d not grant his application.

  8. Many years ago I lived in Southend on Sea, and a business associate from America visited my father. He thought that Southend was just the south part of London, as in the East End, or West End, and took a taxi all the way from Heathrow. And anybody remember the opening of a Barry McKenzie film when the naïve Ozzie catches a taxi for Earl’s Court and we see him passing Stonehenge and other landmarks?

  9. You think I was born yesterday?

    I’ve taken that trip many times and I know exactly what it’s worth. And 60 is all your gonna get!!

  10. Both sides in Uber get to rate the other, so I am guessing the system will probably correct itself: driver get no (or very few) more hires, drunk gets no more rides.

    No licencing boards or other state parasitism required, thanks.

  11. > drunk gets no more rides.

    He fell asleep; he didn’t throw up in the car. For late-night taxi drivers, soundly-sleeping passengers are the best kind.

  12. Bloke in Costa Rica

    When I first got here, a few taxi drivers used to try the old Gringo Price trick on me. You learn very quickly to ask that the meter be running. Of course now they don’t try any malarkey because it’s pretty obvious five seconds after I open my mouth I’m not a tourist.

  13. Dear Mr Worstall

    Many years ago during the last millennium, in Bahrein there were three standard rates: local, foreigner other than American, and American. They were roughly in the ratio 500 fils, 1 dinar and 2 dinars respectively.

    DP

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