Tom Wood
Uber drivers who arrived to take people home from Leeds Festival this weekend have been accused of charging fees of up to £100 for a journey that would ordinarily set someone back around a quarter of that fee.
As people rushed to get away from the huge music festival in Bramham Park this weekend, some festival-goers were ‘absolutely disgusted’ to see that the prices for rides home had allegedly been hiked up, with some drivers also demanding cash beforehand to make the journey at all.
An anonymous post in a Leeds Festival group on Facebook claimed that there were around 15 or 20 Uber cars at the festival, but none were accepting rides on the app.
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They said that while they attempted to go through the normal process of hitching a lift with an Uber, they eventually resorted to asking the drivers if they were waiting for someone.
The post read: “It turns out they were just waiting for people to make them cash offers to get them home.
"We overheard one driver telling a group of four lads he wanted £100 cash to get them home when on the app it was a £26 journey.
"All of the drivers were just stood about having cigs and talking whilst there were young people freezing, crying, calling their parents, saying their phones were going to die and begging for help.”
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Reports suggest that one driver claimed that traffic was causing an issue for them, whilst another said that the fares quoted on the app would be too small to make it worth their while.
However, another festival attendee claimed that after finally securing a ride after around two hours on the app, they discovered that the taxis had their own direct exit out of the festival site.
In the end, their trip cost the £33, but they claimed to have heard drivers wanting ‘at least triple that for journeys not much longer than ours’.
They continued: “We eventually got home at 2am and honestly it completely ruined what had been an otherwise great day.
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“Not only is this frustrating, it is unsafe, it is unfair and for Festival Republic to allow this is quite frankly disgusting.”
In a statement Uber – the official transportation partner of the festival – said: “What has been described is unacceptable.
"All private-hire trips in the UK must be pre-booked.
"Uber has a zero tolerance policy and any driver found picking up unbooked trips or street hails will permanently lose access to the app."
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They added that any incidents of plying for fares that they discover will be reported to the council, meaning that anyone found to have done so could risk losing their private hire licence.
LADbible has contacted Festival Republic for a comment.