Pretoria – A drunk e-hailing driver who allegedly concocted a hijacking story to cover his tracks after he crashed, was caught in a lie when security officers recovered the car from passengers who drove him.
The alarm was raised on a gold Toyota Etios after the owner approached the Reaction Unit South Africa (RUSA) in Verulam, Kwa-Zulu Natal, to report his vehicle stolen.
The owner told RUSA officers that his driver was intoxicated but managed to make contact with him and reported that armed men had hijacked him.
“When the intoxicated driver was interviewed, he informed officers that he was attacked and hijacked while en route to fetch a passenger.
“He pointed out injuries he sustained. The owner then informed officers that the vehicle was last seen in Waterloo.”
RUSA officers advised the owner to report the hijacking to SAPS members while they searched the area.
“After a brief search, the vehicle was located at a residence on Jackal Road, Waterloo. When the occupants were approached, they denied that they had hijacked the car.
“They handed over the keys to the Toyota Etios and explained that the intoxicated Bolt driver was known and had transported them to the airport to drop off a passenger.
“He was unable to drive back and extensively damaged the rear of the vehicle,” RUSA officers said.
One of the men then took over the vehicle and placed the drunk man on the passenger seat. While driving back, the driver jumped out of the moving vehicle. When they stopped to assist him, he opened the trunk, removed the wheel spanner and assaulted them.
“One of the men pointed out head injuries he had sustained during the assault.”
After the attack, both men then sped off leaving the driver behind. They drove the vehicle to their residence expecting it to be fetched when he sobered up.
“They further informed officers that the driver lived a road away from their residence.”
No criminal case was registered, and the vehicle was handed back to the owner.
IOL spoke to a Bolt spokesperson to get more information from their side concerning the incident. The e-hailing app asked for details of the driver and the registration of the car, however, only the registration could be provided.
“Bolt can confirm that the provided vehicle registration is not registered on the app,’’ said Takura Malaba, country manager for Bolt South Africa.
Malaba added that if they were provided with the driver’s name, they would have been able probe the matter further.
“We take the safety of passengers that use the platform very seriously and we have strict code of conduct and conditions of use for drivers on the platform. We never hesitate to permanently suspend any driver who contravenes these conditions of use,” he said.
IOL