Actor bemoans Uber bill of £26 for a fare usually costing £4 during Edinburgh Fringe

Actor bemoans ride-hailing firm Uber after being hit with a £26 bill for what she claims should have usually been a £4 fare. Amanda Bailey is currently appearing in a play, The Good Scout, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She used the Uber app on Saturday 17 August to make the mile long journey between the Edinburgh Playhouse and the Surgeon’s Hall.

The global minicab firm Uber offered a ride at a premium rate, a pricing model that Uber call “Surge Charging”. During busy periods of demand, Uber raise the base rate prices to encourage drivers to service the area and force those not willing to pay the increase to wait for demand to fall or seek other transport. Local traditional metered taxis do not change their prices when demand is high. Bailey took to Twitter to highlight the journey that was being advertised as £10-12 during a surge rate of x2.5. However, the Uber driver took the actor on several long detours meaning the final bill was a whooping £26. The actor tweeted: "Hey @Uber charging me £26 for a £4 fare, even at your ridiculous 2.5 surge charge is beyond extreme... please send me a refund for the difference, thank you." Bailey also spoke to Edinburgh Live and told their reporters: “Had he stayed on the normal route to go over South Bridge we’d have travelled just over one mile instead of the 4.8 miles he took.“ Uber have since refunded the actor’s fare following several public complaints to the operator on Twitter made by Bailey.

Edinburgh Image: Pixabay