Pregnant woman forced to walk along busy road after traffic-dodging Uber driver gets stuck on grass verge
A heavily pregnant woman was forced to walk along a busy dual carriageway after an Uber driver attempted to skirt traffic only to end up getting stuck. Kirsty Allsopp, 30, said the trip ended in disaster after the driver swerved out of his lane and careered into the grassed central reservation on the A444.
Kirsty had ordered the Uber from her home in Exhall at about 9.30am on Thursday, September 22, as she had planned to visit a friend in Foleshill. She was joined by her 54-year-old father-in-law who was heading to the city centre to attend a funeral.
Things took a strange turn, however, when the Uber driver made an over-ambitious manoeuvre to dodge queueing traffic on the A444. It resulted in Kirsty, who is eight months pregnant, walking along the dual carriageway in flip-flops.
Kirsty told CoventryLive : "He went up the bypass (on Pickards Way), we were sat in the traffic for about 5/10 minutes and then all of a sudden he turned his car around and tried to go over the bit where the grass is to come back up the bypass.
"His car got stuck, half of his car was on the road and the rest was on the grass so the cars that were trying to get past had to go around him. I had to get out, my father-in-law who was in the car tried to help him because it is dangerous, we were stuck."
Kirsty demanded that her fare be returned but was met with animosity from the Uber driver. "I said to him 'look you need to cancel my Uber '," she said. "'I am not going anywhere in your car, am I?'
"He started arguing with me saying he could not cancel it." A truck driver heard the commotion and stepped in to defend Kirsty which led to the driver refunding the cost of the short trip.
Explaining what happened next, Kirsty added: "I crossed over the dual carriageway. I had to walk up the bypass. It was really busy.
"I ended up in the middle of the bypass because there is no pathway on either side of the bypass so the safest bit was on the grass." Kirsty said she was left 'gobsmacked' and feared for the safety of her unborn child.
She said: "I am eight months pregnant, and I struggle to walk as it is which is why I got the Uber. I was gobsmacked.
"I was scared, I am heavily pregnant, and it was horrible having to walk up in flip-flops, my feet were absolutely black by the time I had got to the end of it. Everyone was looking at me like what is she doing? I was embarrassed."
Thankfully, Kirsty managed to find a black cab after walking along the dual carriageway but was left furious after having to fork out £15 which Uber has since refused to compensate her for. All Kirsty has received is the £5.38 original Uber fare, she claims.
Kirsty has slammed Uber after they failed to provide an apology or any form of compensation for the incident. She said there has also been no explanation about what has been done to reprimand the careless driver.
"All they said is that they can refund my money back. I spoke to them and they sent it to another team who said there is nothing we can do apart from obviously speak to the driver and close the case," she said.
"He has got away with it. It is disgusting. Anything could have happened." Uber was approached for comment, but had not responded at the time of publication.
