A young woman dramatically saved herself from allegedly being kidnapped by jumping out of a moving Uber.
The 19-year-old woman ordered a taxi to take her from GrandWest casino to her home in Boston, Bellville but says she panicked when she saw that the driver go past Voortrekker Road.
She says when she got into the car at Grandwest on Saturday evening, she immediately sent her live location to her dad in the Eastern Cape, as well as her friend.
The woman says: “I was with my friend, when the Uber driver collected me at 6.47pm, she left with her aunt.
“I sent her and my dad the live location and the details of the Uber. When I got in the car, the driver was playing music and was very vibrant.
“I noticed that he spoke Zulu, the GPS was loud enough through the music.
“As he drove on Jakes Gerwel Drive, the GPS told him to turn right on Voortrekker Road but he continued driving, so I asked him why he passed it.”
She started panicking and her father checked up on her with a video call and that’s when she made her daring escape.
She explains: “My dad called me immediately after we passed the road. I noticed that the driver was looking at my phone when my dad called and he was suddenly angry.
“I’m not familiar with Cape Town but I know that Voortrekker was going to take us to where I live.
“We were on the freeway and I saw that there was a board that had Paarl written on it. He turned to it and I asked him to drive slower.
“I told him my dad was going to pick me up, the speed was a bit slower and I jumped out while I was still on the phone with my dad.
“He hung around for a while and then he drove away and he then cancelled the trip. My friend came to fetch me. I told her that the driver was trying to kidnap me. I was on the N7 at the time when they came to me.”
Bellville Community Policing Forum (BCPF) chairperson Emre Uygun confirmed that a 19-year-old student narrowly escaped a kidnapping attempt.
Uygun says: “Although she suffered an injury on her left leg, she managed to escape by jumping out of the vehicle when the driver failed to drop her off at her requested location.
“The BCPF Chairperson visited the victim to offer support and assisted her in reporting the incident to Bellville SAPS, where a case is currently under investigation.
“Regrettably, the victim's attempts to contact Uber for assistance after the incident were met with inadequate response.”
When the Daily Voice contacted Uber, a spokesperson says: “We are looking into this incident to see whether it took place on our platform.”
“We encourage riders to use safety features like Audio Recording and the in-app emergency button to call for assistance and access to emergency services if needed, directly from the app.”