Mum, 34, orders £4.5k Uber from Salford to 'help Ukraine' after 'one too many double pink gins and shots of Sambuca'

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

A mum says she ordered a £4,500 taxi to Ukraine from Salford to 'help' after 'one too many double pink gins and shots of Sambuca'. And was only saved by having 'insufficient funds'.

Leoni Fildes, 34, claimed Uber tried to take the payment NINE times. Uber said they were 'looking into this further to understand what happened'.

Mum-of-two Leoni - who was woken in the morning by her bank questioning the transaction and admits to a drunken mistake - had been out celebrating a friend's birthday last Saturday in Swinton, Salford, when talk turned to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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The dog grooming business owner, from Worsley, Salford, said she had already downed a 'few double pink gins' and 'shots of Sambuca' as well as Prosecco when she decided to make the 1,700-mile trip in a taxi to 'help' the Ukrainian cause.

Leoni said she then attempted to order the Uber, which was estimated to cost as much as £4,578, but was told she had 'insufficient funds' on the app. She told of having only 'flashbacks' of her risky mistake when her bank called her the following morning thinking her card had been fraudulently used. She said the bank claimed Uber had tried to take the money nine times.

Leoni said she's glad she didn't have enough money in her account and has questioned what could have happened if she had embarked on the transcontinental trip.

"I'm 34 - I should know better," she said. "The next day I didn't remember doing it. I was like 'oh my God'. I woke up to my bank ringing me, thinking my card had been used fraudulently.

"Uber tried to take the payment nine times out of my account. They were pretty determined. I had a little flashback