Uber driver allegedly asks for Auckland passenger's hand in marriage - 'for a friend'

Saturday, 17 March 2018

Uber is investigating a complaint laid against one of its drivers for alleged harassment (file photo).

An Uber driver allegedly harassed an Auckland passenger and tried to arrange a marriage between her and one of his friends.

The company is now investigating, saying the alleged conduct 'has no place' on the Uber app.

Phoebe Teves said she caught an Uber from Mt Albert to Epsom on February 22 about 10am.

The driver was 'overly chatty' but more or less friendly, Teves said.

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He then began to compliment Teves on her appearance and asked how much she knew about visas, she said.

'He then said he had a friend that he could hook me up with to help with a visa status,' Teves said.

Despite the 'awkward' ride, Teves decided not to report the incident.

However, when the late night phone calls started, she told her partner, Sam Metha.

'The Uber driver called her and she put the phone on speaker mode as she was unfamiliar with the number,' Metha said.

'The driver said 'remember me, the Uber driver who offered you for marriage to my friend', [and] that's when I became alarmed.'

After Teves explained to her partner what had happened, the couple decided to write a complaint to Uber.

Metha said she also called the driver directly who apologised and said he had dialled the wrong number.

'This was harassment and I feel [Uber] is getting a bit unsafe.'

Uber says in most countries drivers can be contacted from the Uber app without having to share your personal phone number.

'This means that your phone number stays anonymous and is never given to the driver,' it says on its website.

Metha went to the Balmoral Community Police station to talk about the incident.

He was advised to contact the company directly as a complaint could not be lodged with police, given no crime was committed.

After bringing the incident to the attention of Uber, Teves was refunded her fare and told by a member of the community operations team that it would be taken up with the driver, she said.

Metha also took his frustrations to social media site Neighbourly. The post attracted more than 120 replies from concerned locals.

One of those was Westmere resident Danni Turnbull.

Turnbull said she was appalled by Teves' driver's alleged behaviour.

'As a woman living in New Zealand we deserve to feel safe, in confined spaces especially, and this was a serious violation of her privacy,' she said.

'These kind of actions are unacceptable and Uber needs to seriously take a look at their processes.'

An Uber spokesperson told Stuff it was aware of the alleged incident and it was being investigated with the driver.

'What's been described has no place on the Uber app and our community guidelines expressly prohibit this kind of conduct.

'When a rider or a driver makes any allegation, Uber's 24/7 incident response team will investigate both sides and take any necessary action.'

For privacy reasons, Uber declined to comment on how the driver could have obtained Teves' personal number or whether or not the driver had any past complaints laid against him.