Uber driver adds 50 minutes and toll to the tourist’s journey

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Three teenage girls were taken on an hour-long Uber ride that involved driving through a tunnel as they tried to make their way from downtown to Bootle.

Sophie Frankbet, 19, and her friend Madeleine and Bobby were visiting town from Somerset after a tough year in lockdown, and had booked an Airbnb ticket for several days.

When they got off the bus in downtown Liverpool last weekend, they booked an Uber on an Airbnb that was near Derby Road in the Kirkdale area.

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Sophie’s app quoted her at £9 for what should have been a short 12-minute ride.

Instead, the girls were taken on a “quite terrifying” hour-long trip, where they were led through the Mercy Tunnels to Wirral.

Sophie said: “The driver had five stars on Uber, so we thought it would be good. The ride had to be basically a straight line and take 12 minutes.

“But it lasted about an hour, it took us to Wirral and it even forced us to take losses.”

“We were so scared, we didn’t know what to do,” she added.

The map shows that the girls were mistakenly taken to Wirral for an hour-long Uber ride

One of the girls tried to turn out the window to get some air, but they said the driver took control of the window and put it back up.

“This added to the intimidating nature of the trip, we felt really helpless and uncomfortable,” Sophie added.

The quick-thinking girls, who were texting each other in the back of the car, started talking loudly about how they met their fathers and friends.

This seemed to alert the driver, who turned around and eventually took them to their destination – but with a total bill of £40.

Sophie said: “We are three young women, we were afraid and insecure, and we hate other young women to go through the same experience – especially if they are alone.”

Sophie and her mother Catherine have complained several times to Uber and demanded a refund for the trip, but have been told on several occasions that the matter is considered closed and no refund will be given.

However, after ECHO contacted Uber, the company has since responded to Sophie’s account and said it was investigating what happened.

Katherine, Sophie’s mother, said: ‘We think the driver may have been trying to pull one off quickly after he saw three young girls who were obviously new to town, but got very shaky and nervous afterwards.

“It’s such a shame that they had this experience at the start of an enjoyable journey to Liverpool after such a difficult time.”

Sophie added that she was disappointed that Uber had taken so long – and for media engagement – to act and provide a response.

She said: “Uber has refused to refund us three times, even though I have explained everything in detail twice.

“We don’t really 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 regret that the group had a bad experience with us. We are currently investigating what happened, and have refunded the user in the meantime.”

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