Manchester man hit with £35K bill for 15-minute Uber ride

The 22-year-old was hit with a massive charge after the app set his destination to Australia. Photo / Unsplash

A man was charged almost $70,000 for a 15-minute Uber ride in Manchester due to a technical error on the app.

Checking your bank account after a night in town can be a painful experience. However, 22-year-old Oliver Kaplan received a shock after realising a 15-minute Uber ride from the evening prior had cost him £35,427.97.

Kaplan had completed work as a trainee chef in Hyde when he took a quick Uber ride to meet his friends at a pub in Haston-under-Lyne; a journey that took around 15 minutes.

The app quoted £10 - £11 for the journey, which he accepted.

The next morning, Kaplan woke up to a notification from the platform saying he had insufficient funds to pay the bill, which was £35,427.97.

Kaplan swiftly contacted Uber's customer service department to find out more information about the charge. Initially, the team were confused about the bill but soon discovered why the fare was so high.

According to the Uber customer representative, the drop-off location had been set to an address in Australia.

After changing Oliver's fare to the correct amount, £10.73, the money automatically came out of his bank account.

The issue had been easily rectified but Kalpan said it could have been a huge issue if the money had been there and was taken from his account.

"If I had have had that sort of money, I would have had to chase them for a refund - it could have landed me in all sorts of financial trouble," he told a local Manchester Evening News.

"I'm still wondering how the location was even set to Australia in the first place, seeing as it is the other side of the globe. Thankfully they were really good about it, and made it right straight away - but it was a stressful half an hour to say the least."

When approached for comment, Uber apologised for the inconvenience and said they immediately corrected the fare.