Good Samaritan

Uber driver in trouble

An Uber driver who came to the rescue of a US couple by driving them nine hours to an important meeting, says he could lose his job and have to leave the country.

Harpal Kang was nearing the end of his shift when the American couple asked him to drive them 650km from Auckland to Wellington, for an important business meeting they didn’t want to miss.

The couple had planned to fly down to Wellington but arrived in the middle of Cyclone Debbie, and were unable to find any flights, buses, or taxis to take them.

Kang agreed to take them on the $1033 trip, getting them to Wellington 30 minutes before the meeting started.

The couple contacted the Herald to publicly thank Kang.

But the article generated a storm of controversy about whether he’d driven more than the legally allowed hours. Yesterday the NZTA contacted him and asked him to bring in his logbooks to be checked.

Kang told the NZTA he’d taken two breaks on the drive down, but he said he was still in trouble because his total working hours reached 16.5.

Drivers are only allowed to work for 13 hours in a stretch.

He said the NZTA would decide in the next two weeks whether to issue a fine, or take him to court. If they went for court action, he said he’d leave New Zealand to return to India.

He has been in New Zealand for six years, and leaving would mean leaving behind his wife, who is studying to become a nurse.

An NZTA spokesperson said several complaints were laid after the story went public.

“We don’t condone drivers exceeding the permitted working hours or failing to take required breaks.”

An Uber spokesman said: “Given the flexibility Uber provides, driver partners are free to take breaks whenever they choose and we encourage them to do just that whenever needed.”