The woman in question had booked the cab ride through the new Uber startup ride-sharing app service. She was picked up from Melbourne’s King Street at around 4:00am.
According to police the 19-year old was indecently assaulted prior to being dropped off in Templestowe, in the city’s north-east suburbs.
On Saturday, Detectives from the Box Hill sexual offences and child abuse investigation team arrested the driver, a 31-year-old man from the suburb of Noble Park. The man was released pending a summons to attend court on sex and unaccredited driving offences.
Meanwhile, the Taxi Services Commission assisted the the police investigation, with its chairman Graeme Samuel saying the allegation was a disturbing one. “For at least 12 months the [Commission] has advised Uber that their drivers needed to be accredited to drive a commercial passenger vehicle,” he said. “Only recently have they started working with us to accredit their… drivers.”
“The Uber driver involved in this alleged incident has not submitted an application to be accredited with the TSC,” added Samuel, saying noting that accredited drivers were subject to criminal checks.
“Even with these measures in place, incidents can still occur and we can take reasonable steps to identify and remove them from the industry,” he said.
According to a statement by Uber, the driver has been suspended. “Our thoughts and prayers have been with the victim and her family,” it read. “It is our policy to immediately deactivate a driver following any such allegation, which we have done [and] we will continue working diligently to assist the authorities in any way we can.”
