Mum drunkenly books £4k Uber from Manchester to Ukraine 'to help out'

18 March 2022, 09:32 | Updated: 18 March 2022, 13:46

A mother has claimed she drunkenly ordered a £4,500 Uber to "help out" the country after "having one too many drinks".

Leoni Fildes, 34, tried to order the Uber from Swinton, Greater Manchester, to Ukraine during a night out.

Ms Fildes had been celebrating the birthday of a close friend, when they began to talk about the situation in the Ukraine.

The mother-of-two from Manchester, who owns a dog grooming business, claims that she had a "few double pink gins and shots of Sambuca", as well as a bottle of Prosecco before attempting to book the Uber.

"I think that might have tipped me over the edge."

Uber is a taxi-booking app that allows users to book a cab on their phone. The trip was quoted by Uber to cost £4,578 for the one-way taxi to Ukraine.

The fee was higher as she attempted to book an Uber XL. A regular UberX taxi would have cost her between £2,564 and £3,313. With the UberXL option, it would have cost between £3,688 and £4,758.

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The business owner was contacted by her bank to warn her about fraudulent activity on her account.

"I'm 34 - I should know better. The next day I didn't remember doing it. I was like 'oh my god'. I woke up to my bank ringing me, thinking my card had been [used fraudulently].

"I'd gone out with one of my friends in Swinton. We came up with the conversation about the war in Ukraine.

"One too many drinks later, we were trying to get a taxi home. We said 'shall we get a taxi and go help them?'"

Despite booking the ride, Ms Fildes was saved the expenses after the ride was rejected due to insufficient funds.

"Uber tried to take the payment nine times out of my account. They were pretty determined. Normally, Uber allow a trip in advance but they've recently stopped it so I was lucky".

She questioned what would have happened if the payment went through.

"I don’t know what I’d do if Uber had let me order it. I don’t think I’d have got in but you don’t know after a drink. I might have piled into the taxi and realised when we got further out."

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An Uber spokesperson said they were investigating the issue.

This comes as Ukraine faces its third week under Russian invasion - with Russian President Vladimir Putin issuing a chilling statement on the conflict after bombing a theatre housing refugees.

Survivors have since emerged from the rubble after Russian troops launched an attack on a theatre in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol where as many as 1,200 civilians including, women, children and the elderly, were taking refuge.

Read More: Survivors 'emerging alive' after Russian bomb hits theatre used as shelter in Mariupol

Ms Fildes said that it was easier to get an Uber to war-stricken Ukraine than to her Manchester home.

"After we'd done that, I couldn't get a taxi for about an hour and a half.

"They were allowing me to go to Ukraine but not 10 minutes up the road back home."