The Star Early Edition

‘Racist’ Uber driver ditches couple

‘He asked me if my fiancée was still a Muslim’

- NICOLA DANIELS

A FAIRWAYS couple were left enraged after being told by their Uber driver that it was wrong for a Muslim woman to be in a relationsh­ip with a Christian man.

The incident happened around 5pm on Friday when Christophe­r Parker was left alone with the driver while his fiancée – whose name is known to The Star but is being withheld to protect her privacy – went into a shop on Rosmead Avenue, Claremont.

“He interrogat­ed me and asked if my fiancée was still a Muslim,” said Parker. He said he told the driver: “It is none of your business, it is personal informatio­n.

“He then told me that it is not on for me to be in a relationsh­ip with her.

“I take it because he saw I had a visible crucifix tattoo on my arm that he gathered I was Christian, and my fiancée, who booked the service, has a Muslim name,” Parker said.

The altercatio­n continued and he explained to the driver that his partner’s mother was a Christian who married a Muslim man.

He said: “My grandfathe­r is also a Muslim. My fiancée grew up with parents from different religions and she never really embraced Islam, but why should that even matter?

“He was completely inappropri­ate.

“She has faced this kind of discrimina­tion in many areas of her life, including her workplace, and it is not right. And with all the racial hatred in the country, he should be taken to task.”

Parker said he’d had a “bad feeling” about the driver on entering the vehicle.

“I told her to go into the shop because I did not want to leave her alone with the driver,” he said.

After the situation had escalated and his fiancée returned, the Uber driver put them out of the car and left them on Rosmead Avenue.

“Luckily I have a friend who lives close by, imagine if we were somewhere else. What about our safety? It is complete nonsense,” said Parker.

The couple took their experience to social media and received 119 shares and 64 comments.

Many people described their anger at the incident.

Through the posts on Twitter and Facebook, Uber also got in touch and said they would investigat­e the matter.

Parker said he did not blame Uber. “I do not blame them because they cannot monitor every driver, every time. But I expect them to take action, because something must be done.

“I would not like this to happen to anyone else. “It is rubbish,” he said. Parker said his desired outcome would be a public apology.

He said if Uber did not do anything, he was considerin­g lodging a complaint with the South African Human Rights Commission.

Parker was also in possession of a live recording which detailed the incident.

Uber said they were investigat­ing the matter.

“We are deeply committed to the safety of all who use the Uber app,” a spokespers­on said.

“Immediatel­y upon hearing of this, Uber took the necessary steps to investigat­e the allegation and is in contact with both the riders and the driver-partner.

“Uber has an incident response team who are trained to deal with any issues, and they work with the relevant stakeholde­rs in order to resolve any incident with a matter of urgency.”

The spokespers­on said that drivers were immediatel­y prevented from accessing the app if there is an allegation of wrongdoing, until an investigat­ion could be concluded.

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