Not saying this didn't happen as described, but would love to hear the driver's version of events
Uber driver adds 50 mins and toll charge to tourists' journey
https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/li ... d-21222104
The three teens were visiting Liverpool for the first time when the incident took place
Image: Liverpool Echo
Three teenage girls were taken on an hour long Uber ride which included driving through the tunnel as they tried to make their way from the city centre to Kirkdale.
Sophie Frankpitt, 19, and her friends Madeleine and Poppy were visiting the city from Somerset after a tough year of lockdown and had booked an airbnb for several days.
When they arrived off the coach in Liverpool city centre last weekend, they booked an Uber to their Airbnb which was near Derby Road in the Kirkdale area.
Sophie's app quoted her a price of £9 for what should have been a short, 12 minute journey.
The girls were instead taken on what they described as a "very intimidating" hour long journey, which saw them driven through the Mersey tunnels to Wirral.
Sophie said: "The driver had five stars on Uber, so we thought he would be good. The journey should have been basically a straight line and taken 12 minutes.
"But it lasted about an hour, he took us over to Wirral and even charged us for the toll."
She added: "We felt incredibly intimidated, we didn't know what to do."
One of the girls tried to put the window down to get some air, but they said the driver took controls of the window and put it back up.
Sophie added: "This just added to the intimidating nature of the trip, we felt powerless and really uncomfortable."
The quick-thinking girls, who had been texting each other in the back of the car, started talking loudly about how they would be meeting one of their dads and boyfriends.
This seemed to alert the driver, who turned around and eventually took them to their destination - but with an overall bill of £40.
Sophie said: "We are three young women, we felt intimidated and unsafe, and we would hate other young women to go through the same experience - particularly if they were on their own."
Sophie and her mum Catherine complained several times to Uber and asked for a refund on the trip, but were told on several occasions that the matter was considered closed and a refund would not be forthcoming.
However, after the ECHO contacted Uber, the company have since refunded Sophie's account and said they are investigating what happened.
Catherine, Sophie's mum said: "We think maybe the driver was trying to pull a fast one after seeing three young girls who were clearly new to the city, but they were very shaken and nervous after it.
"It's such a shame that they had this experience at the start of a fun trip to Liverpool after such a difficult time."
Sophie added that she was disappointed that it took Uber so long - and for the media to be involved - to act and offer a refund.
She said: "Uber refused to refund us three times, despite me explaining everything in detail twice.
"We really don't want other young girls to go through something like this."
An Uber spokeswoman said: "The safety of everyone who uses the Uber app is a top priority, and we are sorry that the group had such a poor experience with us. We are currently investigating what happened, and have refunded the user in the meantime."
