Uber driver John* has shared dashcam footage with The Feed of himself being verbally abused by a passenger.
It all started after John picked up the passenger at around 10.30 pm on a Saturday and politely asked, “how was your night?”.
After attempting to make small talk, he was interrupted by the passenger, who replied, “Shut up, mate. I’m sick of you talking already. Stop talking and drive, it’s your job... Shut your gob. Shut up.”
The dashcam footage shows that for the majority of the 10-minute drive, the passenger muttered to himself while playing music in the back seat.
Later, he mocked John for driving at the speed limit -- 50 km/per hour -- before telling him, “you don’t fucking scare me c**t” and calling him a “fucking prick”.
In the footage, John is shown trying to de-escalate the situation and apologising for “annoying” the passenger.
The passenger said to him, “I ain’t scared of no one. You should know that, you come from Asia or not? You get a boat over?”
John, an Australian citizen who migrated to Perth from Singapore 17 years ago, replied, “No I didn’t get a boat over, I migrated here.”
Uber looking for female drivers Source: AAP
“You risked your life to come here. A lot of people come here by boat. Don’t get yourself brought up in shit,” the passenger said.
John has been driving with Uber for three years. He said he reported the incident to the Uber but was “disappointed” it did not share the outcome of their investigation with him.
Source: AAP/AP Photo/Eric Risberg
“Obviously, [the passenger] was either drunk or had a bad night and he got very abusive from there and told me to ‘shut up’ and drive him home in a very mean way,” John told The Feed.
John said as a result of the incident, he’ll be taking two weeks off from driving.
“I’m a type who likes chatting with passengers. I’m also going to have a think about if I’m going to chat with passengers again,” he said.
The ‘released in November by the Transport Workers’ Union and Rideshare Network found 81 percent of drivers “have at some point felt unsafe or threatened by a passenger.”
It also revealed that the average wage for drivers was $12.35 an hour and showed 41 percent of drivers experienced racial discrimination on the job.
Ridesharing Source: Moment RF
Steve is a Pakistani student who, like John, drives with Uber part-time.
He told The Feed, he was “so traumatised” by an incident of racial vilification he experienced last year that he didn’t work for a week.
“I was driving three individuals on a Saturday night. I greeted them and the first thing they said was ‘hey brown town’,” he told The Feed.
Steve* said during the trip, he ignored several racist questions from the passengers such as, “why do all you brown guys work these shit jobs?”
“Once I reached their destination, one of them casually just asked me if I’m a paedophile,” he told The Feed.
“The other guy responded ‘yeah I guess the driver probably doesn't even understand the term, ask him if he has been with animals.’ At this point, I was so disgusted and told them to leave my car.”
Low pay for Uber, rideshare drivers Source: Getty
Steve said that when the passengers exited the car, one of them said, “best of luck with your goats, you curry in a hurry.”
Steve said he experiences racial discrimination every three to four months while driving. He told The Feed he did not report the incident as he fears repercussions from Uber.
“I remember [the incident] because it had a huge impact on me. I didn't drive for a week and I would be very skeptical about driving at night,” he said.
Source: Uber
In a statement, an Uber spokesperson told The Feed, “discriminatory or abusive behaviour is a breach of Uber’s Community Guidelines.”
“We would encourage any driver, or rider, who experiences this kind of behaviour to report it so we look into the matter and take appropriate action.”
Drivers like Steve* are concerned that if they report incidents of racial abuse to Uber, the company will put their account on hold while they investigate the matter.
The Feed revealed in November that a female Uber driver had her account temporarily suspended by the company after reporting sexual harassment.
At the time, the company told The Feed, “if a driver-partner and a rider make safety-related reports against each other, we may temporarily remove both parties access to the app while our 24/7 global support and incident team looks into the matter.”
When asked about concerns held by drivers like Steve*, Uber did not respond to The Feed’s requests for comment.
John said he believes the government should make it compulsory for rideshare drivers to have dash cameras in their vehicles.
“Mine records both inside and outside and that’s how I was able to record,” he said.
A spokesperson from the WA Department of Transport told The Feed, taxis “need to be fitted with approved camera surveillance.. due to the anonymous nature of rank or hail work where limited details, such as a passenger’s name are known prior to the driver accepting the job.”
“Unlike rank or hail taxis, Uber and other rideshare services take bookings for a ride and exchange details between the driver and passenger before the ride occurs. Rideshare vehicle owners may choose to install a camera surveillance unit provided the vehicle has the correct signage to notify passengers and the camera is operated in accordance with the Regulations.”
As a result of his experience, John said he is “strongly considering quitting driving for Uber.”
“This is the first time in nearly 2,600 trips that I’ve been racially abused by a client,” he said.
“I felt really humiliated after [the passenger’s] comments.”
*Drivers’ names have been changed for privacy reasons
