A Gurugram resident was threatened and abused by her Ola driver last week after refusing to pay an arbitrary fare. The incident took place early on Friday morning as the woman was making her way to the airport.
“Just 10 minutes into the ride, the driver requested to stop to fill his water bottles. I agreed, but soon after, he claimed that the vehicle wouldn’t start unless I made a payment via a QR code he presented. I asked him to end the ride first so I could confirm the amount, but instead, he insisted that I pay first, threatening not to let me leave until I did so,” Puja Singh wrote in a lengthy LinkedIn post.
She was eventually forced to seek a new Ola cab to the airport as her original driver stood by and continued to hurl threats and abuse. The social media post recounts the cabbie becoming “increasingly aggressive” and making threats as she focused on her phone.
Singh recalled feeling ‘intimidated and unsafe’ as the man warned that he would “come back at night and show you what happens”. He continued to yell and even took a video of the passenger without consent (and refused to delete it) as she waited for the new ride.
“During this 10-15 minutes of harassment, he even raised his hand as if to slap me, saying, ‘I’ll hit you so hard’. I was shaken, but I told him that if he dared to touch me, there would be consequences. His response was to laugh and continue with his verbal abuse,” she recounted on social media.
It was not immediately clear whether Ola had taken cognizance of the issue or communicated with the affected customer. The incident sparked widespread condemnation on social media with many urging the company to take heed. Others shared similarly concerning incidents that they had faced while using ride hailing platforms.
