Uber drives off with mum’s baby still in the back by mistake – and picks up other fares without realising
A MUM screamed in horror as an Uber driver accidentally drove off with her sleeping baby in the back seat.
Elisabeth Katompa told today how she chased after the minicab but the driver did not see her - and did not realise his mistake for almost an HOUR.
The cabbie picked up TWO other fares before noticing seven-month-old Olivia-Hope was still in his car, .
Elisabeth, 31, took an Uber with her sister and daughter back to her home in Tottenham, North London, after visiting her mother in Enfield on Saturday.
As they walked round the car to unstrap the sleeping baby from her seat behind the driver he drove off.
Elisabeth, a nurse, and her sister chased him down the road but could not catch him.
The panicking mum did not realise you can contact a driver through the Uber app so she called 999.
She told the Standard: "I was screaming and shouting and what-not. I called the police because that was the only thing I could think of.
“I got so worried because you hear about things like that happening when someone just takes a child and then you never see them again.
“I wasn’t thinking straight. I didn’t know if he was aware that she was still there, I didn’t know if he did it on purpose… I didn’t know what to think.”
Her email receipt had the driver’s first name but not the number plate, and officers said they could not immediately trace him.
Meanwhile the driver had accepted another fare, a man who did not question the sleeping baby’s presence, reports the Standard.
It was only when he picked up a second fare - who asked if the driver was aware of the baby - that he realised what had happened.
He took her to Bishopsgate police station in central London, and then local officers in Tottenham heard on the radio a taxi driver had dropped off a baby.
Elisabeth, married to Oliver, 31, said: “The police blue-lighted us to the station. I was just hoping it was her.
“I’m still shaken up. Even when we got home, I didn’t want to let go of her.”
Scotland Yard said it was called at 11pm, adding: “Officers responded and made urgent enquiries to trace the vehicle.
"Just after 12.10am, the driver attended a central London police station to report a baby in his car. The baby was reunited with her mother.”
MOST READ IN NEWS
Uber said: “We normally hear about drivers finding mobile phones or keys in the back seat of their car but never a sleeping baby.
"As soon as the driver and a following passenger realised what had happened they drove to the local police station to safely reunite mum and baby.”
Yesterday shocking video appeared to show an Uber Eats delivery worker booting a man in the head outside a Nottingham takeaway.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368 . We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.