LAHORE – A Lahore-based girl has shared a harrowing story of her experience with ride-hailing service ‘Careem’ when she along with her friend apparently faced harassment during the ride.
According to the details shared by the girl, she had to head to a college function for which she preferred Careem ride due to non-availability of personal driver but as she along with her friend started the journey with Careem driver Usman Shahbaz Bhatti, the situation became worse as the driver kept on asking weird questions and tried to be cosy with them.
The situation intensified at the end when the driver was asked about the fare and he looked unfazed about it for just to show undue favour and sympathy.
What added fuel to the fire was the fact that the driver allegedly contacted the girl again through another number after the completion of journey for no reason at all.
Here is the complete version of the girl, who managed to fetch details of the driver:
‘I am writing this to warn all the girls who travel alone on Careem. Careem is not safe at all guys. At least not anymore. Their service is getting pathetic and unsafe with every passing day.
This incident happened on 7th November 2016. My friend and I had a function at our college and our drivers weren’t available so we decided to book Careem. We had to reach at 5pm so we booked the car at 4:10.
The app showed that the Careem driver was 7 minutes away. Right after 7 minutes we got a text that our Careem was waiting outside. We went out but the car wasn’t there. We kept on calling the driver again and again but he kept on lying for the next 30 minutes. He reached 4:45pm.
Well, this wasn’t the only issue that we faced that day. The Careem driver was quite young and he started being very informal with us. At first he asked that why are we going to the college at this hour? Then he started sharing his experiences from his university life that he was a graduate from FAST and he studied civil engineering from there etc. Later he asked that if we were getting late from college then he is willing to drive fast but on one condition that “Aapne darna nahin hai”.
Then he played the music and drove the car as if he was partying with his friends. We asked him to slow down both the car and the music. But he showed reluctance.
When our college was near, we asked him about the charges of our trip but he said “aap rehnay dain” as he doesn’t want money as he owns a construction firm in lahore and that he was the owner of that car and many other cars as well. When we showed reluctance about this matter, then he gave in.
Right before ending the ride when we were about to leave, he turned back and said “Jana zaroori hai?” This was too much. We were stunned and ignored him as we didn’t want to create a scene.
Since then, i had been receiving texts and calls from an unknown number. I got curious as i had a gut feeling that it was the same guy from Careem so i saved his number as “Wrongnumb” to see his Whatsapp Dp. I recognised him from his picture as he was the same guy who came as a captain that day.
I got really furious and unblocked him to send him a message on whatsapp to teach him a lesson.
After my conversation with him, he instantly changed his Dp. Below are the screenshots of his messages. I could have ignored him but it was limit and harassment is intolerable.
I would not recommend Careem to any girl as it is being a source of mere harassment.
Ps, I know how Careem would react to this post, they would come up with a superficial fabricated apology. I am sorry Careem, but your apologies are of no use until or unless you’ll ensure the safety of your female customers.’
Ride-hailing services are getting popular in Pakistan with each passing day but there are a few side effects of these services as well. If a proper check and balance system is not installed in place, the services would have to wind up the operation in country.
