Man wakes up to £100 bill after Uber snooze

30 Mar 2016

Falling asleep in an Uber ended up being costly for one man. Image via Shutterstock

The next time you’re getting a taxi that you’ve ordered through an app after a few drinks, make sure to keep your wits about you.

This is a fact Londoner Daniel Kaizen discovered in the early hours of Monday morning when he dozed off in an Uber and ended up being charged more than £100 for what should have been a £15 journey.

Kaizen only realised what had happened when he opened up the Uber app once he got home to give the driver a star rating and saw the price he’d been charged and the circuitous route on which he’d been taken.

Speaking to The Telegraph in the UK, Kaizen said: “I nearly spat out my tea laughing at the route.”

He also said that Uber had apologised and promised to refund the money to him.

Uber has revolutionised the taxi industry with its ride-sharing app, which achieved a staggering valuation of $50bn last year, meaning it now has a higher valuation than many of the world’s oldest and most established companies.

Its success has not come without controversy, however, with taxi drivers claiming Uber drivers are not subject to the same regulations they face, which has led to protests in some cities, including Paris.

All of that is quite complicated, however, the moral of this story is a simple one: don’t fall asleep on your way home.

Gigglebit is Siliconrepublic.com’s daily dose of the funny and fantastic in science and tech.

Man asleep in car image via Shutterstock

Brigid O Gorman is a former sub-editor of Silicon Republic.

editorial@siliconrepublic.com