Within seconds, Julia says she was facing a parent’s worst nightmare.
She, her boyfriend, and the four kids between them, took an Uber back to his place from a Toronto Raptors game during March Break because of a flat tire.
Julia’s five-year-old daughter fell asleep in the far back row during the ride. Once they arrived, and before getting out of the vehicle, the couple discussed aloud their plan for how to unload everyone.
Julia would grab the garage door opener from her car so they could all get inside the house, while her boyfriend started unloading the other three kids, their car seats and winter coats from the Uber. Julia would then carry her sleeping daughter out of the vehicle once the path to the back seat was clear.
“I’m returning to the road and I realized the car, it’s gone,” she said.
“I remember looking up and down the street. I don’t see a moving vehicle at all. The three kids are already in hysterics. ‘Why did he leave with her? Where did he go?’ I’m trying to keep it together for my son.”
Julia was stunned and her disbelief only grew when she says Uber representatives refused to help them or Toronto police contact the driver. CBC Toronto is only using her first name to protect the identity of her daughter.
“All we wanted was for them to contact the driver — that’s it — and they refused.
This was “no time for bureaucratic red tape,” Julia said. “This was not a purse or a phone left behind. It was a five-year-old child on a winter night.”
Julia called 911, and police arrived within a few minutes. An officer called Uber to get contact information for the driver but Julia says a representative for the ride-sharing company refused to provide it — stating the police needed to fill out a form.
Uber’s guidelines for law enforcement say emergency disclosure requests must be submitted through the company’s public safety response portal or by email using its emergency disclosure form.
FULL STORY: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/uber-drives-off-with-child-1.7513379
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