Uber removes London driver who would not take Jews

Company says driver’s behavior towards kippah-wearers was ‘totally unacceptable’ and that Uber ‘does not tolerate any form of discrimination’

Illustrative - the Uber app on a phone in New York. (AP/Richard Drew, File)
Illustrative - the Uber app on a phone in New York. (AP/Richard Drew, File)

Uber dropped a driver in London who allegedly said he would not take Jews.

Two men who were wearing kippahs said the driver, identified as “Ahmed,” refused to pick them up after they were matched with him on the Uber app, the Jewish Chronicle reported.

The driver dropped off another passenger then “turned around, and as he drove past us, said ‘I don’t take Jews.’ Then he hightailed it, just pegged it,” Sam Adler, one of the men, told the Jewish Chronicle. He says he suspects that the driver did not see their kippahs until he turned around.

He then cancelled the booking via the app, according to the report.

An Uber spokesperson told the Jewish Chronicle that the driver’s behavior was “totally unacceptable” and that the company “does not tolerate any form of discrimination.” The company removed the driver’s access from the app and reported the allegations to the London Metropolitan Police.

Adler said that the company declined to provide compensation, telling him: “We would never want to minimize an experience like you describe by putting an arbitrary monetary value on the situation.”

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