After refusing to drive a maskless female taxi driver, he received racial abuse.
London taxi driver Muhammad Usman, 37, was called ‘a f***ing P**i’ multiple times by an irate passenger as she demanded he took her to her destination or refunded her money.
Video footage of the incident has emerged showing Mr Usman asking the passenger for help. He said that it was mandatory for his passengers wearing face masks because of the risk of Covid-19.
Mr Usman was wearing a mask and driving for Bolt. She said that she didn’t want to wear a face mask because she didn’t have one.
He told her he would cancel the ride. This angered her, as she fears she will be charged for it.
She was reminded by her taxi driver to contact Bolt for a refund, but she continued to insist that he drive her to her destination.
The video was recorded at 8.30pm on 26 June 2021.
This was just minutes after Mr Usman (who lives in Redbridge) had picked the woman up at Stratford tube Station. He asked to travel to her house, which is located in the E3 postcode.
National Covid-19 cases were on the rise with upwards of 20,000. Face masks were compulsory at that time.
Muhammad, 37, was called a ‘f***ing P**i’ multiple times by this irate passenger who then continued to kick his car after she eventually left the vehicle
His wife was also four-months pregnant with their first child. He told MailOnline that he didn’t want to risk Covid when he had the opportunity to return home to his wife.
It is only now that Mr Usman has released the footage after he was contacted days later by the officer who had been assigned to his report. He informed him that they were closing down the case.
Ilford Police Station received the report from the passenger. He gave all details to locate the woman.
Bolt driver, 37 years old, stated that police contacted him in August to identify an officer. However, they called him again a few days ago to tell him they had closed the case since they couldn’t find the woman.
“That’s when they decided, that’s unbelievable. There’s clear evidence. They could easily have taken the details off Bolt for whoever has booked it. Either her mum, her sister, or herself,” Mr Usman stated to MailOnline.
“Every company has their own details, including name, address, and everything else. How can they not properly investigate that?
“That’s why I took matters into my own hands.
‘It’s impossible for Bolt and police to not be able to track her down, these apps need every detail of a person to even book a ride.
“They knew that every trip was recorded, but neither bolt nor the police have done anything. This is what forced us to post it on social media
“We were let by police and bolt. They let us down at every level.
“We tried getting the police involved in it but we didn’t get any from them. In two months, I received no communication until yesterday when the police told me that they were closing the case.
Bolt also received a generic apology email from Mr Usman, stating that they were sorry he had to experience it.
After the Met Police closed the case, Mr Usman shared the video on social media. However, the taxi driver stated that Bolt could be compelled to give the information after one phone call.
He stated that it had been more than four years since then, and Bolt didn’t bother to get back with me.
In the video, Mr Usman can clearly be heard saying that he can text the company to get the money back. I haven’t been paid anything.
Unknown passenger wants to know which company she should text to get a refund.
Mr Usman is a Pakistani-born man who has lived in London since 1997. He says to the woman, “Call the person who booked the taxi.”
The passenger can then be heard saying, “You, we booked you so now take me there.”She then calls her mother while still in the car and tells her about the incident.
The mother can be heard stating that her husband has not taken her to her destination and she can request a refund from the company.
Bolt, a taxi app company, employs Mr Usman. They only once responded to his report with an email expressing their ‘generic apologies’ and stating that they were’sorry he had the experience’.
She then told her mother Mr Usman was recording and that she was going smack him.
The angry passenger then can be heard saying: ‘You f***ing idiot, suck your stinking mother, you stupid p**i bruv, f***ing silly P***.’
Mr. Usman claimed that he started recording because he wanted ‘protect himself’ from her anger when he announced that he would cancel the trip.
He said, “Her tone was aggressive because of her attitude.”
“We had a few conversations about the mask, but the way she approached the situation forced me into recording it.
“In my head, I was a single man in the car. My thought was that the girl could step out and say, “The guy has looked at my this way” and make something up.
‘It was to protect myself because it’s easy for her to just lie because she was so angry, and then Bolt deactivate my account for 10 days…
‘This happens to so many drivers ever day, and I can’t afford to do that, it’s my only job.
‘I wasn’t expecting it to get to this point, but this is my livelihood, I have bills to pay.
“After providing them with all the details about the video and the information Bolt has, it would only take Bolt one phone call to be obliged by Bolt to provide them the information apparently according my knowledge.”
Mr Usman said that he initially decided not to share the video on Facebook because the woman was very young.
“My friend said that we should post it on Facebook, but I said “No, let’s let the police deal” because she was young, 20-something years old, and I didn’t want to go through it. Let the police handle it,” Mr Usman continued.
“But nothing came out so it’s left with us with no choice but get social media help.”
Bolt is a ride-hailing service that operates in all major cities in the UK.
Bolt and the Metropolitan Police were contacted for comment.