Didi apologizes after woman’s nightmare ride with drug driver

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Ride-hailing provider Didi has apologized after a driver for the service allegedly arrived for a job high on a cocktail of drugs and crashed after an argument with his passenger.

According to online posts by a Ms. Zhang in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, she hailed a car on Friday using Didi Express, which provides rides by registered private cars. A driver identified with the surname Lin picked her up.

Ms. Zhang's Didi account showing her ride-hailing history. /Guangzhou Daily Photo

Ms. Zhang says she tried to direct Lin but he failed to follow her directions. When she confronted him about why he was driving the wrong way, Lin fell into silence.

“You are better off not being a Didi driver,” Ms. Zhang told Lin.

Her complaint provoked an extreme reaction from the driver, who accelerated and started driving erratically, eventually hitting a parked truck and coming to a stop, according to Ms. Zhang.

Lin drove his car into a parked truck. /Guangzhou Daily Photo

Unharmed in the crash, Ms. Zhang immediately got out of the car and called the police.

Police giving Lin a drug test at the scene. /Guangzhou Daily Photo

Officers soon arrived at the scene and say they found Lin hallucinating. They searched his car and found a cough syrup bottle later confirmed to contain morphine and methamphetamine.

Bottle found in Lin's car. /Guangzhou Daily Photo

After the incident Ms. Zhang filed a complaint with Didi and took to Weibo to publicize her case.

Ms. Zhang shared her experiences on her social media account. /Guangzhou Daily Photo‍

The ride-hailing company sent staff to apologize in person to her on Saturday, and posted an apology to her on Weibo on Sunday. Didi also announced that Lin would be banned permanently from the service.

"I’ve received a response from Didi and their explanation is truthful,” Ms. Zhang posted afterwards. “I accepted their apology and hope Didi can push forward a tighter verification process for its drivers, so that what I’ve gone through won’t be meaningless.”

Didi apologized to Ms. Zhang on Weibo. /Weibo Photo

Didi said on Weibo that Lin had no criminal record before the incident. /Weibo Photo