A young woman has sworn she will never use Uber again after catching a driver performing a lewd act behind the wheel.
Tayla Pimlott, 26, was making a short trip from Adelaide’s CBD to the northeastern suburb of Campbelltown one October afternoon when she says she discovered her driver appeared to be pleasuring himself.
She opted for a “quick, quiet” journey home after a long day at work, rather than using public transport, but within minutes she was “holding back tears”.
Pimlott said she was “petrified” when she noticed this “subtle hand gesture” from the back seat, causing her to look up from her phone.
Tayla Pimlott was making a short trip from the Adelaide CBD to Campbelltown when she claimed her driver appeared to be pleasuring himself.
‘I could clearly see that he [the Uber driver] “They took out his penis and he was masturbating,” he said. yahoo.
Pimlott said hundreds of thoughts ran through his mind, including somehow getting out of the moving vehicle.
“There was a part of me that thought, ‘Oh God, I could die, I could be raped, this man could touch me,'” she said.
He later admitted that he heard a “little voice” in his head telling him he was overreacting.
Realizing she had to put her safety first, she sent a message to her mother and boyfriend.
He also managed to capture images of the man in the hope that he could use them as evidence when he reported the incident to the police.
Pimlott said she texted her mother because she was petrified.
Pimlott recalled how his heart was pounding, but said he pretended not to notice, fearing the driver would lash out at him if he confronted him.
When she got home, where her mother was waiting for her, she had to ask the driver to open the doors.
“He turned completely around and looked at me and in the creepiest voice I’ve ever heard said, ‘Thank you so much,'” she said.
Completely horrified, Mrs. Pimlott responded with a simple “You’re welcome” and jumped out of the car, fearing that anything less than polite would put her in further danger.
She reported the incident to Uber and urged them to ban the driver, but the company did not tell her whether this was done because of its “strict privacy notice.”
She also reported him to the police, who she said arrested the man that same night.
Pimlott said the driver has been “prohibited” from visiting his home or work, but in the meantime, he says his mental health has been significantly affected.
He said he will never use Uber again.
Uber condemned the driver’s alleged actions in a statement.
“What has been reported has no place in the Uber community or anywhere else,” a spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia.
Uber condemned the driver’s alleged actions in a statement, saying what was reported has no place in the Uber community or anywhere else.
‘As soon as we were notified of this report, we removed the driver’s access to the app immediately and permanently.
‘We’ve raised the bar for safety across the industry, including investing in cutting-edge technology and features to help improve passenger and driver safety on every trip.
‘Using our safety toolkit, passengers can contact emergency services, share their journey live with a loved one and each journey is tracked by GPS in real time.
“We continually look for ways to improve safety on every ride and leverage this safety technology to support law enforcement cases.”