An Uber driver was attacked on Thursday evening in an apparent hijacking at Cape Town international airport.
Andrew Trench‚ Digital Editor at Times Media Group‚ was commuting from Johannesburg and was a passenger in the cab leaving the airport at about 8pm when three men surrounded the Uber car.
Trench said that two of the hijackers grabbed the driver and attempted to pull him out of the car and yelled at him to get out. They allowed him to take his bag.
“It’s definitely like an Uber thing‚ it wasn’t like a normal hijacking‚” he said.
Trench said that he asked the hijackers not to take the driver but they shoved him aside and drove off with the driver.
Once Trench had given his statement to the police and they had left‚ the hijacked Uber vehicle bizarrely came back round. Trench was then able to contact Uber through their app and inform them of the incident.
Uber spokesperson Samantha Allenberg said the driver was safe and that he was with the police‚ giving a statement.
She said that the Uber team in Cape Town was able to locate him once they were notified of the incident by Trench.
An Uber spokesperson told TMG Digital:"The threats and intimidation against people who want to use the Uber platform is unacceptable. We are deeply committed to the safety of riders and drivers and we take any incident where safety is compromised very seriously. We have been in touch with the rider and driver to offer our support and an investigation into the incident is under way."