Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sophie Norris & Courtney Pochin

Mum orders £4,500 Uber to Ukraine 'to help' after having one too many pink gins

With all that's going on in Ukraine at the moment, it's understandable that many people are keen to help however they can.

And one mum recently decided she was going to do just that, ordering an Uber to take her straight from Swinton, Greater Manchester, to Ukraine after having 'one too many' drinks on a night out.

Leoni Fildes had been out celebrating her friend's birthday on Saturday, March 5 when her group started chatting about Ukraine.

The mum-of-two was asked if her boyfriend, who is in the military, might be forced to fight if the UK entered the war and she proclaimed that if he did, she would go with him.

The 34-year-old, who owns a dog grooming business, says she'd had a 'few double pink gins and shots of Sambuca' at this point, as well as a bottle of prosecco, and drunkenly decided to take action.

She opened up the Uber app to book a taxi - a trip that would cost her a whopping £4,578.

The mum tried to book an Uber to Ukraine (Kennedy News and Media)
She was saved from the £4,500 bill by 'insufficient funds' (Kennedy News and Media)

Get the news you want straight to your inbox. Sign up for a Mirror newsletter here.

Leoni was thankfully saved from her drunken impulse due to having 'insufficient funds' in her account - however, Uber still tried to take the payment nine times.

The following morning the mum had "flashbacks" of her risky mistake after her bank called to warn her about fraudulent activity on her card.

She says she's now glad she didn't have enough money in her account and has questioned what could have happened if she had embarked on the trip.

Leoni said: "I'm 34 - I should know better.

"The next day I didn't remember doing it. I was like 'oh my god'.

"I woke up to my bank ringing me, thinking my card had been [used fraudulently].

"Uber tried to take the payment nine times out of my account. They were pretty determined.

"I had a little flashback when the bank called and I said 'I think it was me - sorry'.

"Normally, Uber allow a trip in advance but they've recently stopped it so I was lucky.

"I remember when we were looking, we said 'oh, we'll get the comfort one'. That's dearer - the XL one."

She had been out celebrating a pal's birthday (Kennedy News and Media)
Leoni isn't sure what she would do if she'd made the trip (Kennedy News and Media)

If Leoni had ordered a regular UberX taxi, it would have cost her between £2,564 and £3,313, but if she had splurged out on an UberXL, it would have cost between £3,688 and £4,758.

Leoni explained: "I'd gone out with one of my friends in Swinton. We came up with the conversation about the war in Ukraine.

"One too many drinks later, we were trying to get a taxi home. We said 'shall we get a taxi and go help them'.

"We'd been out for about four hours so I'd had a few double pink gins and quite a lot of shots of Sambuca and a bottle of prosecco. I think that might have tipped me over the edge.

"I don't know what I'd do if Uber had let me order it. I don't think I'd have got in but you don't know after a drink. I might have piled into the taxi and realised when we got further out.

"It would have been coming out of my account and I don't know where I'd have woken up.

"After we'd done that, I couldn't get a taxi for about an hour and a half. They were allowing me to go to Ukraine but not 10 minutes up the road back home.

"It was only about 10.30 and I had to ring a few different taxi companies then to get a taxi. I got in at about 12."

An Uber spokesperson added: "We can confirm that no trip requests were successfully made in this instance. We are looking into this further to understand what happened."

Do you have a story to share? We pay for stories. Email us at yourmirror@mirror.co.uk

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.