Rapido auto driver stopped ride, demanded cash, threatened me for recording him. What should I do?
This happened today in Bangalore, and I’m still shaken by it.
I had booked a Rapido auto for my brother and sister. The driver reached the pickup point, picked them up from inside my society, and even started the ride. Barely 100 meters later, at the society gate, he suddenly stopped the auto and refused to go any further.
He claimed that when he accepted the ride, the distance was 24 km, but after starting it, it was showing 27.5 km. He accused us of changing the destination after booking, which we absolutely did not do. As far as I know, passengers can’t even change the destination after the ride has started.
He then demanded ₹180 in cash, claiming he had driven 3 km just to reach the pickup location. That was a complete lie because when I booked the ride, he was only about 2 minutes away.
We tried explaining that there isn’t even an option for passengers to cancel the ride once it has already started. We also refused to pay ₹180 when the auto had barely moved 100 meters.
After arguing for a while, he suddenly changed his demand from ₹180 to ₹80. That made it even more obvious that the amount was completely arbitrary and not based on any genuine fare calculation.
That’s when he completely lost his temper.
He started shouting loudly at the society gate, creating a huge scene. Since the situation was escalating and I felt unsafe, I started recording the incident.
The moment he saw me recording, he got out of the auto and walked aggressively towards me. He pushed/almost pushed me, demanded that I delete the video, and started yelling things like, “Your father doesn’t pay for my CNG.” He also threatened me, saying we should go to the police station.
I told him I was perfectly fine going to the police station and even said I’d get my car so we could go together.
By then, several auto and cab drivers had gathered around us. The driver immediately changed his story in front of them. He started telling everyone that he had never demanded any money and that I had started fighting with him for no reason. He repeatedly complained that I had recorded him, conveniently leaving out everything that had happened before.
I’m not a native Kannada speaker and only speak broken Kannada, so suddenly being surrounded by a crowd of local drivers while one person was shouting at me was honestly very intimidating.
I have a short video that captures him stopping the auto, getting down, confronting me aggressively, and demanding that I delete the recording. Unfortunately, it doesn’t capture the beginning of the argument because I only started recording once he became aggressive.
I’ve already raised a complaint with Rapido, but I genuinely don’t think this should end with just a customer support ticket. A driver who can stop a ride midway, demand arbitrary cash, become physically aggressive, and threaten passengers for recording him is a safety concern.
Has anyone here had a similar experience?
Does Rapido actually take strict action in such cases?
Is filing a police complaint the better course of action, considering he physically intimidated me and tried to force me to delete the video?
Has anyone successfully escalated a case like this in Bangalore?
I’d really appreciate any advice. No one should have to deal with something like this just for booking an auto.