“Had a horrific experience with an Uber driver last night. My driver fell asleep on the wheel because he took “pills” to keep him up longer. He had to be shaken up by me to prevent a crash from happening. I personally had to put him in the passenger seat and drive his car back by myself.
Pathetic background checks obviously. Very disturbing,” was posted on Facebook by a resident of Gurgaon on May 15 when he had a terrible experience with an Uber driver.
Ishan Gill, a financial analyst with a corporate firm in Gurgaon had booked an Uber cab at 12.36 am to go to Gurgaon from Defence Colony in Delhi. The cab driver arrived an hour late at the pick-up spot. The passenger doubted that the driver was drunk due to his lazy behaviour. But on checking with him twice and with the driver assuring him, he gave the driver the benefit of doubt and sat in the car.
They were at Aurobindo Marg, when Gill stopped texting and looked up from his phone just in time to see the cab about to hit a divider. If Gill hadn’t shouted, they would have met with an accident. To Gill’s surprise, the driver was almost dozing off when he stopped the car after the narrow escape.
Gill was forced to get behind the wheel and drive his Uber cab driver home, because the driver fell asleep while driving.
“I showed my driving license to the driver and offered to drive. He agreed and I drove all the way to Gurgaon while the driver was completely out on the passenger seat,” Gill, who lives in DLF Phase-2, said.
After driving with the driver fast asleep on the passenger seat, they reached Gill’s residence at about 2.00 am and tried to wake the driver up for payment but it was of no use. A message of Rs 427 appeared on his screen via the app and he then dropped Rs 500 with the driver. Gill had also recorded this in his phone and posted it on social media.
In the morning, he informed Uber about the incident through an email and a feedback form. Gill claimed he received a call from Uber offering him a reimbursement of Rs 500 which he declined politely.