Uber Drivers Forum banner

Queensland Driver Goes Berserk, Runs Over Riders Leg

6K views 59 replies 18 participants last post by  Instyle 
#1 ·
Sascha Pangallo
UBER.. YEAH THEY'RE CHEAP
~ BUT CAN YOU PUT A PRICE ON YOUR LIFE?

I'm not one to post these long novel Facebook statuses, but I really feel that this needs/should be made public - and put to the people. Yesterday afternoon, I ordered an Uber (as I do on the daily.) Little did I know on this particular afternoon I would be stepping into an Uber with a psychotic/mentally unstable driver aka "Paul". After refusing to put my destination into his GPS he requested my directing (which I had no problem with) however I was on an important phone call and during one of the directions he snapped and screamed at me in a very aggressive manner. He then pulled the car over continued to scream "get out of my car" multiple times whilst getting very physical, grabbing me and trying to drag me out of the car. He soon realised that there were 4 on lookers witnessing the whole thing and yelling that they were calling the police - he then panicked and ran back around to the driver side door, jumped in to his 4WD - and hit the accelerator like an absolute maniac. My door was still open as I was frantically trying to grab my bags out of the car and before I could get away I was thrown to the ground and my leg was being run over.

I have bruises on my arm and leg and a huge burn/severe skin abrasion from where the tyre ran over me. I am currently in hospital for a suspected blood clot and possible broken leg.

For someone who has been 'pro' Uber for so long, I will never use them again. Police are currently trying to shut Uber down as they are unlicensed taxis who claim to do police checks but this cannot be confirmed as there are so many incidents like mine involving their drivers. Some states in Australia have already banned Ubering.

For those of you Ubering on the Gold Coast I will comment a screenshot of his Uber details below. Do not under any circumstances get in the car with him.

Sensitive content, not recommended for those under 18
Show Content
Nose Skin Hand Arm Eyebrow


Product Font Logo Design Brand
 
See less See more
Sensitive content, not recommended for those under 18
2
#4 ·
Interesting through all the the friends comments, not one mention of Uber in any bad way. Just talk of going directly after the driver with no win no fee injury lawyers.

Usually any dispute with an Uber ride is directed at Uber the parent company responsible for the whole ordeal, no mention of Uber's correspondence or advice on this situation.
 
#12 ·
#7 ·
I guess we'll all be watching this one... I hope the girl is okay...
.
 
  • Like
Reactions: chi1cabby
#9 ·
So far Uber's corporate strategy is taking credit for all that is good, basking in the glory while framing every negative incident as a deranged/criminal driver that is no fault of theirs. There is only so far they can spin this tale especially with ongoing lawsuits regarding their faulty background checks.
Soon enough the pattern will be impossible to ignore and the ubercorp will run out of excuses.

I predict soon there will be more instances of more such psychotic anger breakdowns with deterioration of driver pay. Also, tens of thousands of drivers racking up miles on their cars may be putting off major and minor car maintenance/repairs because they barely make enough to survive. Besides, full time drivers are putting ever more hours to make ends meet. All these manifest as isolated incidents that in time will become an obvious pattern unless uber makes significant changes to their business practice, which they will never do in the short term.
 
#50 ·
So far Uber's corporate strategy is taking credit for all that is good, basking in the glory while framing every negative incident as a deranged/criminal driver that is no fault of theirs. There is only so far they can spin this tale especially with ongoing lawsuits regarding their faulty background checks.
Soon enough the pattern will be impossible to ignore and the ubercorp will run out of excuses.
Disagree on this one. Take the German Wings pilot who crashed his plane into a mountain, or the reporter who shot his ex-colleagues while they were filming - few blame the airline or the news channel for either of these nutjobs
 
#10 ·
The comments on GC Bulletin fb page are appalling, almost everything post is in support of Uber WTF? o_O

If it happen on a bus, people scream public transport is the worst!
If it happened in a taxi, people scream Taxi's are dangerous!
But in an Uber?.. Uber's so great but this Paul guy is scum! One response was, lucky this wasn't in a taxi otherwise she would have been raped as well. Absolute appalling comment :mad:

So many people focusing on the fact he may have drove a Taxi in the past, the regulations obviously ensured why he not driving a Taxi today!
 
#13 ·
“We have a strict policy to deactivate any partner that exhibits aggressive or abusive behaviour and we have removed this driver from our platform,” Ms Curran said.
“Safety is our priority and we will work with the authorities on their investigation.”
^^^^^16 oz. can of UberBS (slightly overused)^^^^
 
#14 · (Edited)
Without knowing the full details of the driver, is it possible that this is what happens when you cut rates to ridiculous levels and end up hiring arseholes because the majority of the really good drivers leave?

What I will say about the story while admitting I'm not a doctor - how can a leg be suspected as being broken? That picture from the GC Bulletin looks like it was taken well and truly after the fact - are our hospitals so bad that they still haven't received the x-rays back to know if the poor girls leg is broken?

Just read the story... he is (but not for long) a holder of a taxi licence.
 
#15 ·
#19 ·
That would be the same as a nightclub having the right to destroy a license. It's a task for the issuing body. If anything, the taxi company should have filed a report with the issuing body about the conduct.

Thanks for the feedback on the site. A new, online service centre (online management) is being developed at the moment, but that's about 6 mths away.
I'm more impressed with my new reporting software I had made up. Certainly gives my brain break compared to the manual method.
 
#20 ·
A drivers authorisation licence, it's history and status is accessed through Queensland Transport. The Taxi company could have dismissed him for any number of offences and barred him from driving. Surrendering his DA was not the problem... UBER assuming it was okay to employ him without checking with QT is the issue. I guess he felt better suited driving for a company that had NO checks and balances.

It was UBER's job to screen him and contact QT.

But the fact remains that the UBER platform in its current cowboy model is a safety hazard. This is just the beggining... Without regulation along the same lines as Taxis, UBER will be a platform for psychopath to meet people... Just as this sad incident proves.
 
#21 ·
Sascha Pangallo
UBER.. YEAH THEY'RE CHEAP
~ BUT CAN YOU PUT A PRICE ON YOUR LIFE?

I'm not one to post these long novel Facebook statuses, but I really feel that this needs/should be made public - and put to the people. Yesterday afternoon, I ordered an Uber (as I do on the daily.) Little did I know on this particular afternoon I would be stepping into an Uber with a psychotic/mentally unstable driver aka "Paul". After refusing to put my destination into his GPS he requested my directing (which I had no problem with) however I was on an important phone call and during one of the directions he snapped and screamed at me in a very aggressive manner. He then pulled the car over continued to scream "get out of my car" multiple times whilst getting very physical, grabbing me and trying to drag me out of the car. He soon realised that there were 4 on lookers witnessing the whole thing and yelling that they were calling the police - he then panicked and ran back around to the driver side door, jumped in to his 4WD - and hit the accelerator like an absolute maniac. My door was still open as I was frantically trying to grab my bags out of the car and before I could get away I was thrown to the ground and my leg was being run over.

I have bruises on my arm and leg and a huge burn/severe skin abrasion from where the tyre ran over me. I am currently in hospital for a suspected blood clot and possible broken leg.

For someone who has been 'pro' Uber for so long, I will never use them again. Police are currently trying to shut Uber down as they are unlicensed taxis who claim to do police checks but this cannot be confirmed as there are so many incidents like mine involving their drivers. Some states in Australia have already banned Ubering.

For those of you Ubering on the Gold Coast I will comment a screenshot of his Uber details below. Do not under any circumstances get in the car with him.

View attachment 12982

View attachment 12983
Some parts of the story make no sense. For instance "in hospital with a suspected broken leg". Once you're in hospital you will have had x-rays and it will be broken or not.

How many drivers prefer directions?

I think we're not getting the whole story here.
 
#22 ·
Interesting through all the the friends comments, not one mention of Uber in any bad way. Just talk of going directly after the driver with no win no fee injury lawyers.

Usually any dispute with an Uber ride is directed at Uber the parent company responsible for the whole ordeal, no mention of Uber's correspondence or advice on this situation.
Because when pax are upset they're upset with the driver not with uber most of the time. I hear a lot lately how they just love uber but they've had some crappy drivers recently. I tell them you get what you pay for but it doesn't seem to sink in. They just want uber to get rid of the bad drivers but don't understand the system is geared to let bad drivers in and discourage good ones.

Eventually I think the pax will catch on that the overall system (i.e. uber) is the problem but right now they aren't quite making the connection.

Plus everyone thinks bad things happen to other people. Especially self indulgent young folks. The older pax are a lot more concerned about driver quality and safety and are willing to pay for it. The young ones just ***** about the occasional bad driver but keep riding, secure that nothing REALLY bad will ever happen to THEM.
 
#23 ·
Yeah sure thing Fuzzy... the whole story has been concocted to victimise Travis Kalanick.

The incident occurred... The passenger has suffered hurt and pain and subject to her rights she deserves compensation.

I found it comical that UBER spokes women Katie Curren has refused to addressed the issue NOR has she indicated when and if UBER's insurance policy will kick in.

UBER have effectively just walked away from the passenger and the victim. And this is UBER's MO.

Now just wait until one day when something happens to one of your passengers Fuzzy, will UBER have your back?
 
#25 ·
Yeah sure thing Fuzzy... the whole story has been concocted to victimise Travis Kalanick.

The incident occurred... The passenger has suffered hurt and pain and subject to her rights she deserves compensation.

I found it comical that UBER spokes women Katie Curren has refused to addressed the issue NOR has she indicated when and if UBER's insurance policy will kick in.

UBER have effectively just walked away from the passenger and the victim. And this is UBER's MO.

Now just wait until one day when something happens to one of your passengers Fuzzy, will UBER have your back?
I found it rather annoying that Uber's statement focused on this drivers prior Taxi license (DA) so they basically threw the taxi industry under the bus to save their own skin in the eyes of the public and people are falling for it. They don't realise that a Taxi DA is only subject to roving checks when driving for an accredited operator. The exact reason he wasn't driving a taxi at present most likely from poor behavior or peformance but Uber with there minimal checks got a second run. The responsibilty falls on Uber to be selective who they partner with!

Beside isn't it a privacy issue for Uber to be disclosing to the media what authority cards this person may or may not have had. I see no revelance in Uber disclosing he specifically had a Taxi DA instead should have said the driver met Uber's criteria to be allowed onto the platform.
 
#24 ·
No Fuzzy the newspaper puts their own spin on it, the truth is unimportant, I was going to comment on the 'suspected broken leg' bit. You get an x-ray straight away and they will see it before you are even leaving the room unless it is a hairline fracture in which case it will be reviewed a little later on. That whole thing is to beat up the story. I am unsure how her leg shows injuries so far up, it almost looks like she lay under the wheel on purpose, it would be very hard to fall and end up with your leg that far under a moving vehicles wheel.
Big surprise he was an ex cabbie.
The whole thing is unfortunate, whatever the reality of the situation, there was probably a much better way for everyone to have handled it in hindsight.
I am interested to see what our Uber friends do about compensation.........
 
#28 ·
This made the news here in the States.
http://news.yahoo.com/uber-driver-r...59186718-f4673466-8061-4e5b-abc8-c820f8304a21

Here in the states it's very simple once Uber receives the application for a potential driver.
Uber's background check is done through a third party company called Hirease.
It consists of filling out your name, address, DL & SSN online.
I've had three previous background checks (which took months (2 federal and one state)
Ubers took less than 14 days. Town and city officials have criticized Uber for not using local law enforcement for the background check process.
I'm sure many applicants would be red flagged/fail the check and not get access to the app if they did.

Sadly a few bad apples spoil the entire barrel.
 
#29 ·
Doesn't work that way here, if he had a criminal conviction his police check would have showed it. His history was clean as far as that is concerned, it was probably his conduct as a cab driver that got him fired which must have been almost criminal considering how bad some cabbies can be.
Uber are so desperate to keep cars on the road you could smell like dead animals and wear nothing but a pair of pink frilly undies so long as your police check is ok and you found your way into the office they will take you on. I have seen some drivers walk in that I would not let in my front yard.
 
#30 ·
Regardless of whether her leg was actually broken or not, it certainly appears to have been a painful injury.
This only proves that there are always bad apples in any barrel - whether it be the taxi industry or Uber ! It is unfair to label all 4000 brisbane taxi drivers as non English speaking / bad driving / poor hygiene / dirty cars / old broken down cars - exactly as if we were to say that all uber drivers are rude / aggressive and run over all of their passengers !!
Luckily the most important difference still exists - Uber is substantially cheaper - that is all that matters to the riders !
 
#31 ·
I was thinking more about this today, and I think being hospitalised with a suspected broken leg means the ambo's probably thought it was broken when they picked her up? Don't know, didn't she go home and then go to the hospital at a later stage?

As for Uber mentioning the taxi DA, I think this was in response to claims about Uber not doing background checks. In this case, they didn't ask the driver to get a general DA as he appeared to already have a valid taxi DA.

I know it's still illegal here, but surely the Qld government should shoulder a tiny amount of blame here - Uber has made requests to the applicable department to be able to run daily criminal history checks on drivers, which they refuse to give.

GC taxi's only said they dismissed the driver for whatever reason, it doesn't say whether the driver did in fact have his DA cancelled, in which case he would be able to drive with Uber anyway.
 
#32 ·
I was thinking more about this today, and I think being hospitalised with a suspected broken leg means the ambo's probably thought it was broken when they picked her up? Don't know, didn't she go home and then go to the hospital at a later stage?

As for Uber mentioning the taxi DA, I think this was in response to claims about Uber not doing background checks. In this case, they didn't ask the driver to get a general DA as he appeared to already have a valid taxi DA.

I know it's still illegal here, but surely the Qld government should shoulder a tiny amount of blame here - Uber has made requests to the applicable department to be able to run daily criminal history checks on drivers, which they refuse to give.

GC taxi's only said they dismissed the driver for whatever reason, it doesn't say whether the driver did in fact have his DA cancelled, in which case he would be able to drive with Uber anyway.
No need to mention what type of DA this guy had other than to say he met Uber's critera. You and I both know they wanted the word Taxi thrown into this incident. The Uber driver that broke into someones house up in Bris, did Uber mention he specifically had a General DA? No, because there was no need, other than to say he met criteria that allowed him onto the platform.

Go Catch wouldn't have access to this criminal database? Seems unfair to bend the rules for a foreign company that aren't doing the right thing in the first place. Theres obviously cetain requirements that Yellow, B/W & GCC meet to have access to this database. If Uber were entitled to have access, there'd already have it.
 
#33 ·
But what is the requirements needed to have access to this database? Under what grounds have the state government said Uber can't have access to this database.

You know I am no apologist for a lot of crap Uber pulls, but one of the things that the government says they don't like about Uber is rider safety - then this sort of thing is a no brainer. Sort out what ever legislative issues there are, but putting the public at further risk because you are siding with the cabbies is not in the best interest of anyone.

I've go no idea how the database works, but I would imagine with privacy issues it would simply give a yes/no result if a name had been refused/removed from the DA or Taxi DA list.
 
#34 ·
The system you are all discussing is called the PTDAS. Passenger transport driver authority system.
It is easy for any accredited operator to access the PTDAS system - simply apply and subject to review access codes will be granted - in fact the transport department encourages you to check the system daily or on a minimum basis weekly.
The problem is that an Operator Accreditation is only granted to persons of good character - and at this point of time UBER technologies would not be considered as such by Qld Transport and therefore not be granted an OA or access to PTDAS. This is not about protecting the taxi owners but more so all of the stakeholders involved . Uber has shown a blatant disregard for transport regulations to date - however now wants access to this system to further 'legitimise' their operAtions.
As an aside it is interesting that in different jurisdictions (ie States ) their requirements differ - in QLD where rigorous background checks are conducted they found that by requesting drivers get a General DA (essentially to drive a RSL or volunteer bus) that they could say 'our drivers have DA's issued and background checked by Qld Transport - knowing full well that the public didn't know the difference between a General / a taxi / a limo / special services DA at all !! Just clever PR and marketing !!
Just because GCCabs removed this drivers ability (pin) to drive for them doesn't mean that his DA was removed by Qld Transport - obviously he has anger management issues . Now with an assault charge potentially over him his Da will be cancelled when the charge is proven ...
Bad apples in every barrel....

Why should UBER be immune to bad apples ?

SSDD
 
#35 ·
Thanks for the clarification SSDD - still doesn't change my stance. If the state Government or the DTMR is pissed at Uber as they rightly should be, the voting public put them in their position and they are there to protect the citizens. "Uber has given us the shits and shown no respect, so FU if you get raped or run over by one of their drivers". It is not the Governments place to make such decisions.

The Government here and in other states have had long enough to do things that would effectively shut down Uber completely if the wanted to - but they haven't. Fining drivers and letting Uber pay the bill is not stopping the service, they are just after some fast cash.

If they want to keep fining Uber then that's fine. If they want to shut down Uber then start issuing demerit points for driving for Uber - it will kill them off quick smart. But don't turn around and say to me and this poor girl that you can get violated or seriously injured/killed in an Uber by a violent/incompetent/homicidal driver that we knew full well shouldn't be transporting passengers because we are giving Uber a lesson and not letting them access a database.
 
#37 ·
Hi AnOzzieuber - don't get me wrong at all - I agree totally with you in regard to anyone hurt etc by either a taxi or uber driver . However in this instance it would not have made a difference whether uber had access to PTDAS . The companies all have their own bylaws which drivers agree to abide by when affiliating with the company which they have to do by law to drive a taxi and earn a living .. However the companies use the bylaws to police their fiefdom - if a driver is too vocal / goes to the media / or any other infraction then the company 'pulls his pin' . This can also happen when drivers get too many complaints of the same type or proven complaints of a serious nature - However a company does not need to notify Qld Transport of there decision to not allow a driver to work for them ( legal right here predicate this - above my pay grade ) this is like any company terminating you doesn't need to tell the issuing body at all let alone why . Most often this is 'a personality clash ' ....
So just because Gold Coast Cabs chose not to let him drive their customers does not mean he is not entitled to hold a current DA . In fact until he is convicted of an offence he can hold it indefinitely ..
To be honest - there is no way uber could have known or guessed or predicted this outcome and even with access to the PTDAS there was nothing to be learnt - remember all criminals were once law abiding citizens - until they were caught the first time !!! There is no way to see even in someone's heart .
SSDD
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top