Uber passenger charged £102 for 5-mile journey that should have cost £15 after 20-mile detour

'Well, I was drunk but damn Uber'

(Getty Images)

An Uber driver charged a drunk passenger £102 for a journey that should have cost £15 after taking a 20-mile detour around London, when he fell asleep in the back.

Daniel Kaizen, 26, complained his journey was five times longer than it needed to be, after using the app to order an Uber from Old Street in central London to Wood Green in the north in the early hours of Easter Monday.

The car went east towards Barking before taking the North Circular back around to the final destination.

A screenshot from Mr Kaizen's phone shows the route taken was far from direct.

It was not until the next morning Mr Kaizen saw the route and said: “I nearly spat out my tea laughing at the route”.

He screen grabbed the route and shared it on Facebook and Twitter, writing: “Well, I was drunk but damn Uber.”

Mr Kaizen said Uber has since apologised and agreed to refund the money.

An Uber spokesperson said: “We are investigating exactly what happened in this instance and have given the rider a full refund.

"Unlike other transport options Uber offers transparent receipts with a record of every trip and a map of the route taken so if there is an issue it can be resolved.”

In August, the app company blamed a “system error” for drastically overcharging customers for short journeys.

While on New Year’s Eve, many Americans using the app found they had been charged incorrectly, some by as much as ten times the normal fare.

Since 2015, traditional black cab drivers have protested against the popularity of Uber cabs, after regulations to the Uber licensing threatens the cabbie’s industry.