Uber drivers have revealed all the illegal trips and thought-out excuses people have made during NSW’s lockdown.
The pandemic got to everyone ages ago, but some people should start taking it more seriously.
In an article published by Sydney Morning Herald, four Uber drivers shared what exactly has been going on with the ride share app since lockdowns began. As you can imagine, there’s been a lot of dodgy dealings.
Driver Graham McLaughlin lives in Glebe near the Sydney CBD.
Over the course of the pandemic, McLaughlin says that the majority of his passengers have been essential workers. The people who live in the local government areas of concern are the ones who have been following the rules.
According to the veteran driver, the past two weeks have seen an increase in the app’s usage.
“[On] Friday nights in particular… Everyone’s going off to [their] mates’ places, going to watch the footy,” McLaughlin said.
That’s a really interesting article. I feel so much sympathy for the young people (in any area) it says are ignoring the rules. I can’t imagine being locked down when I was a young adult! It’s such a short and important part of our lives.
— Michael Slezak (@MikeySlezak) September 11, 2021
“Not to be racist about it, but it’s the white, privileged people who are going off and partying … There are some booty calls that you pick up in the morning, and the odd failed Tinder date.”
“They try to be shy about what they’re doing, but it’s hard to be shy about what you’re doing when you’re holding a six-pack or a case.”
It’s a sentiment that driver Amanda Honey agrees with. Living in Marrickville, Honey has developed a keen sense for when a passenger calls upon her to drive them to a hook-up.
“They’ll be all fresh and clean and showered and after-shaved,” she said.
At the same time, Honey says the most obvious thing a person can do to reveal their intentions to their driver is offer the information unprovoked.
“I do have passengers that jump in the car and immediately want to justify why they’re going somewhere…They’re unnecessarily offering what they’re doing or they’re going because they’re concerned.”
If that wasn’t bad enough, driver Wayne Newton and another (anonymous) driver from the Shire shared that some people aren’t even bothered to care about the rules.
This covers both the soliciting of a ride for non-essential reasons and the face masks passengers aren’t wearing. Specifically, Newton revealed in the article that 8 out of 10 passengers weren’t wearing masks on his Thursday shift.
“When they get in the Uber [they say] ‘oh mate, I’m exempt’ … I’m not going to get into an argument with someone. Definitely the younger ones between 18 and 30, they all think it’s a joke and they just go out all the time.”
If this involved people from southwest or western Sydney, I bet there would be breathless calls for a compliance crackdown with cops and troops. Oh, it doesn’t involve them? Well, let’s just say it’s “lockdown shenanigans” (the headline in print version) https://t.co/lwjWsTTjot
— Tim Soutphommasane (@timsout) September 12, 2021
The most outlandish excuse that’s been used? The driver from the Shire shared that, last week, they drove “a woman from Guildford to someone’s house where ‘she said she was getting her nails done’.”
As of today, NSW has experienced 44,485 positive cases of COVID-19 since the end of January 2020. There are 1,189 people in hospital, 222 of them are in the ICU and 240 people have died.
