'Front up!': Jacqui Felgate takes Uber to task after horrible airport story

I just wanted to go back to a couple of things that happened on the Brekkie program over the last few weeks, and we covered it on the show yesterday. So in terms of Ubers at the airport, this is a growing problem. It's not a one-off incident. This has happened now for weeks, if not months, where you're supposed to put a code in when you get off your plane and you look for public transport or a taxi to get home. And so they give you a code with the Uber. You're meant to put it in and then the code will match. When you get into the vehicle, the Uber driver will say, what's the code? And you give it to them. But what's been happening at the airport is a lot of these drivers either are Uber drivers and they're dodgy or they're pretending to be Uber drivers. And there was this horrible case that unfolded on the Brekkie program yesterday involving a woman who was locked in the Uber. This is how it all unfolded.

I took an UberX from the airport and while I was in the car, gave them the pin as per normal. Then the driver said that the pin was wrong or it didn't work. and that he offered to just drive me home for the same amount as an Uber. And just in the moment, like, we were already on the freeway. I kind of panicked and I agreed. But something didn't seem right. So when we arrived, he tried to overcharge me. But an extra $20, it felt like a scam. I refused to pay it. And I said, look, I was supposed to pay you on the app, on the Uber app. This is not on. We had a bit of an argument, and he locked

me in the car. He wouldn't let me get out. Okay, so he essentially abducted that victim there, and she was on all the television news last night if you saw her. So it's been really difficult for ourselves and the Breakfast Program to get onto Uber in Australia. And if you listen to the station regularly, you'll hear Ross being quite frustrated about this on the Breakfast Program. So they sent a statement finally to the producers of that program, the agency that represents Uber. We spotted your segment about the Melbourne airport scam and would like to clarify an element for any future segments you may run on this incident. The driver involved was not operating on the Uber platform at the time, therefore they were not an Uber driver as the segment suggests. Could you please ask in any future segments to make it clear that it was not a current Uber driver involved? The answer to that's no. And the answer to that is because if you go onto our socials right now, you will see woman after woman after woman and some men who have also had this happen to them. So for Uber to simply wash their hands of what is occurring at the airport is nothing short of a disgrace. You have women and vulnerable people getting into cars. So either Uber has a problem with their drivers or they have people impersonating their drivers and Either way, they should sort it out. It's their responsibility. If they've got an issue at the airport, which they clearly do, I could read you out now if I had the time, person after person after person who has either been abducted by Uber drivers, which is essentially what happens when you're locked in a vehicle against your will. And they refuse to