Uber driver accused of taking sleeping woman on £85 detour

A woman who took a taxi rather than attempt a five-minute walk home from a party says she was hit by an £85 fare after the driver took a huge detour when she fell asleep in the back of the car.

Hannah Warman claims she was taken on an hour-and-a-half drive around north London after she nodded off. The map from her route shows she set off at 4.30am and ended up going on a 35-mile detour.

Warman told Metro: "I had been at a friend's party. She only lives a five to ten minute walk from my home, but I had [a] bit too much to drink and called an Uber.

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"Then, I must've fallen asleep in the car. I woke up a couple of times and said, 'Why is this taking so long?' and I think I assumed he'd got a bit lost or something but I had no idea it'd been an hour and a half.

"I fell back asleep. I went straight to bed once I'd got home and I only realised what had happened the next day when I got an email receipt for my £85 Uber journey."

She was refunded £71 of her fare after she emailed the ride-hailing app firm to complain. "But I feel like I don't trust them anymore," she said. "I feel like they should reassure me that the driver was penalised or dismissed and explain how this could've happened."

A spokesman for Uber said: "We are speaking to the licensed driver and the rider to establish exactly what happened and have given the rider a full refund."

He added that "unlike other transport options", the company's technology records every trip and sends riders a receipt with a map of the route taken. "This transparency and accountability means if there is an issue it can be quickly resolved," he said.