Uber drivers criticise response from global giant following brutal death of Scott Cabrie on the Fraser Coast

Fraser Coast Uber drivers weren’t contacted by the company until a day after two teens were charged with the murder of Scott Cabrie.

• New details on teens accused of Uber murder

Drivers in the “tight-knit” Fraser Coast Uber community did not receive any correspondence from the global organisation until more than a day after two teens were charged with the alleged murder of Scott Cabrie, it can be revealed.

Scott Cabrie, 47, was reported missing on February 10 after not showing up for work in Hervey Bay. Two days later he was found dead, and a murder investigation commenced.

Two teenagers were on Monday charged over Mr Cabrie’s murder as police allege he was killed in a violent armed robbery that escalated on February 7.

An Uber driver, who wished to be referred to as Yvette, said “what scares me the most is that that could’ve happened to any of us and now that it has happened it puts us all at risk”.

“It’s no different to getting in a taxi, you don’t know who you are going to pick up – you have just got to be prepared to go anywhere and everywhere,” she said.

“All our safety is in jeopardy.”

Hervey Bay Uber driver Scott Cabrie was the first to work for the network on the Fraser Coast.

Yvette said most Uber riders know how the app works and that for driver safety all payments are electronic.

Asked whether she had ever been physically or verbally assaulted while working, Yvette said “there have been a number of incidents where verbal abuse escalated but no I have never been physically assaulted”.

She said on Friday and Saturday nights, Fraser Coast Uber drivers would often “check in” with each other.

“Uber used to have hubs in all the capital cities where you could go and get support – (now) there is no face-to-face contact anywhere in Australia but they still charge us 27.5 per cent to use their app,” she said.

“If a rider puts in a complaint because you won’t let them fiddle with your radio, you won’t let him play his songs and he gives you a one star and puts a complaint into Uber – they take that as gospel before they even give you a right of reply.”

The crime scene at Howard.

Yvette said Uber drivers in the area are “often hung out to dry”.

The Courier-Mail understands that a text message was sent by Uber to drivers in the Fraser Coast region about 5pm on Tuesday.

Mr Cabrie was working as an Uber driver and received a job to collect three people from a house in the early hours of February 7.

Police allege the two male teenagers, aged 17 and 18, hatched a plan to roll the Uber driver and allegedly jumped him at Pacific Haven.

Mr Cabrie’s body was discovered with multiple stab wounds near the boat ramp at Howard while his blue Nissan X-Trail was located burnt out near Wieland Rd on the day of his death.

Subsequent investigations led police to search an address, where a 17-year-old male was taken into custody.

He has since been charged with one count each of murder, arson, unlawful use of a motor vehicle, robbery and deprivation of liberty – unlawfully detain.

On February 12, officers attended a Hervey Bay address, where they took an 18-year-old Sunshine Acres man into custody and charged him with the same offences.

The third person picked up, a girl, is not considered a suspect and has not been charged.

Rideshare Driver Network (RDN) has revealed it is “not surprised” by the alleged murder of Mr Cabrie amid calls for passengers to be “screened” to ensure the safety of all drivers.

Scott Cabrie's body was found at Howard.

“Every day in Australia, rideshare drivers working for Uber, Ola, DiDi and others work hard to make sure the public gets to their destination efficiently and safely. But safety is a two-way street,” an RDN statement read.

The statement said RDN was “not surprised that this horrendous loss of a valuable community member has occurred, only that it has not happened sooner”.

“The current case, where a driver has allegedly been murdered by a 17-year-old passenger is an example of the lack of care exhibited by both rideshare companies and by the Queensland government.”

Meanwhile, Transport Workers Union (TWU) National Secretary Michael Kaine said Mr Cabrie’s death highlighted how dangerous the industry was.

“We know from our community of rideshare driver members that Scott Cabrie was an experienced driver and well-respected by his peers,” Mr Kaine said.

“With no system in Australia to provide entitlements to gig economy workers, rideshare drivers have no rights to minimum wage, workers’ compensation, or protections from unfair deactivation.”

Mr Kaine said “the deprivation of rights makes these workers incredibly vulnerable”.

Mr Cabrie was among the original Uber drivers to bring the rideshare service to Hervey Bay in 2019.

The Courier-Mail understands that 99 per cent of Uber trips end without any safety-related incident reports.

When safety incidents do happen, trips on the Uber platform are reportedly tracked in real time.

Concerned drivers are also encouraged to report any incidents or accidents to Uber’s Incident Response Team (IRT) which is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

Uber also has a dedicated team, which includes former police officers, who are on call to work with police 24/7 to respond to matters and assist in their investigations.