Man in India drives himself home after realising Uber driver is drunk

Man in India drives himself home after realising Uber driver is drunk

Nowadays, it's pretty convenient to catch a ride home after midnight.

But not for a man in India, who had to drive himself home when his Uber driver showed up drunk, India Today reported.

Surya Oruganti wrote on Twitter that he had booked a ride home from Bangalore airport on Sept 9.

When he noticed that his driver was dozing off during the late-night journey, Oruganti pulled the car over to the side, moved him out of the driver's seat and took the wheel.

[embed]https://twitter.com/suryaoruganti/status/1038886883957202945[/embed]

He took a photo of himself behind the steering wheel with his driver passed out in the passenger's seat.

Oruganti made it home safely. But it is unclear what happened to the driver after the trip.

In another tweet, Oruganti said that the identity of the driver did not match his Uber profile. He urged the ride-hailing company to "fix this," saying that it was a "very serious safety issue."

[embed]https://twitter.com/UberINSupport/status/1041343702944366592[/embed]

Oruganti said that Uber responded to his tweet within a day, with a spokesperson saying: "This is a regrettable and concerning incident." The driver has been removed from its database, the company added.

Uber did not encourage passengers taking the wheel, however, and advised them to cancel the ride and report the incident if the driver does not match the person shown in the app.

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And it appears Oruganti is not the only one who met a tipsy driver. In his Twitter thread, other netizens wrote of similar encounters and called for Uber to improve its regulations.

Passenger safety has come under the spotlight in recent months after two female passengers were raped and killed by Didi drivers in China.

The murders prompted the nation's transport ministry to conduct checks on the ride-hailing industry till the end of 2018.

minlee@sph.com.sg

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