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An Uber passenger, who took a trip from Euston Road, Kings Cross to his home in Welwyn Garden City, has alleged that once he fell asleep in the car, he was driven on a huge detour to bump up the fare.
Nicholas Moon was quoted £80 for the journey in advance and decided that it was a fair deal for the trip.
But he soon realised that his quoted price was nowhere near what he was charged from his account.
The total sum of money he paid turned out to be a whopping £206.48 for a journey that should have been 24.26 miles and taken 49 minutes.
Instead it turned out to be a 65 mile trip which took one and a half hours.
Nicholas Moon used his Twitter account to spread the not-so festive spirit, saying: "Great Xmas spirit Uber. They credited my Uber account with £100 as a goodwill gesture, but refuse to refund the £100 instead. Never fall asleep in an Uber. #Stooge #Robbery #Uber #Disgrace #UberLondon @Uber_Support."
Speaking to The Welwyn Hatfield Times, Mr Moon has suggested that the driver deliberately chose to take the longer route because he had fallen asleep.
He told the publication: "I'm not going to use them again. They haven't been very helpful and now I'm aware [from social media] that I'm not the only one this has been done to."
TaxiPoint recently reported on another similar incident when an Uber passenger travelling from central London to Kent’s Medway area was charged an eye watering £529.77 after her driver took her a longer route home.
Ashleigh Cooper was charged the astonishing fee after the driver of the private hire vehicle headed west towards Heathrow Airport, and then circumnavigated the south side of the capital’s M25 eastbound towards Kent.
What was expected to be a 40-mile journey turned into a £529.77 89-mile ride home. According to the passenger, Ashleigh Copper, Uber have refused to refund the fare, but have offered credit amounting to half the fare to ride with the operator again in the future.
Ashleigh said via a post on social media: “This 'compensation' is beyond insulting as I will never use their services again and I'm still hundreds of pounds worse off a week before Christmas.”
Ashleigh went on to add: “They have completely washed their hands with my case and said I need to take it up with Transport for Londonbut I haven't heard anything back in 4 days.
“I am seriously concerned about Uber's duty of care, especially for solo female riders. You put your trust in Uber to get you home safely, not drive you half way round the South East to make more money out of you.”
Image credit: Twitter - Nicholas Moon
