Delhi Uber driver falls asleep on the wheel, customer avoids crash and drives himself home

Gill also uploaded a video which shows the said driver sleeping even as he leaves a Rs 500 note with him.
Delhi Uber driver falls asleep on the wheel, customer avoids crash and drives himself home
Delhi Uber driver falls asleep on the wheel, customer avoids crash and drives himself home
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A Delhi man has alleged that he had to drive the car, which he had booked from a cab-aggregator, after the driver fell asleep mid-way last week. 

When Ishaan Gill booked an Uber last Sunday, he hoped to be driven to his destination safely by the Uber driver. 

However, according to Gill, his "driver fell asleep on the wheel because he took 'pills' to keep him up longer." The driver was about to crash into a divider on the road when he shook him awake and the driver slammed the brakes, said Gill.

In a post on Uber's Facebook page, Gill wrote, "Had a horrific experience with UBER last night. My driver fell asleep on the wheel because he took 'pills' to keep him up longer. He had to be shaken up by me to prevent a crash from happening. I personally had to put him in the passenger seat and drive his car back by myself. Pathetic background checks obviously. Very disturbing."

He also uploaded a 9-second video which shows the said driver sleeping even as Gill leaves a Rs 500 note with him. 

Gill, a 23-year-old financial analyst, booked the cab at 12:36 am from Defence Colony in South Delhi to DLF Phase-II, where he lives. 

Gill said the driver arrived late and that after he boarded the car, he sensed something was off. When he asked the driver if everything was okay, the driver "kept nodding his head in affirmation", Gill told The Times of India

At one point, the driver allegedly dozed off while driving and almost hit a divider when Gill woke him up and the latter applied the brakes. The driver told Gill that he had taken some "pills" to stay awake, most probably to get more rides.

He further told TOI that he could not book another cab and so he decided to drive the car himself. 

"I had a low signal on my phone. I could not book another cab and I wanted to get home soon. I showed the driver my driving licence and he agreed to let me drive. I had to move him to the passenger seat and he fell asleep almost instantly," he told the publication. 

When they reached the destination, the driver was in such deep sleep that he could not even wake up to collect the fare of Rs 427. 

Responding to comments to the post, Gill wrote that he "got a call from the Uber team telling me i should've abandoned it (in the middle of nowhere) and requested a new one..." and that they also called him to offer a reimbursement of Rs 500. 

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