‘I was terrified’: Uber driver charged with assaulting female supermarket worker

Confronting CCTV footage showed the moment a click and collect in Perth turned into a terrifying ordeal.

An Uber driver has been charged with the assault of a female supermarket employee in broad daylight in Western Australia.

In confronting CCTV footage, the male ride-share driver appeared to kick the woman to the ground as she handed over a grocery order in the carpark of an inner-city Perth supermarket.

The 27-year-old man from Beckenham is alleged by police to have made verbal threats against the woman before physically assaulting her, then hopping into his car and driving away. He was charged with assaulting a retail worker and making a threat on Wednesday, and is set to appear in court in August.

The young woman, who is in her early 20s and wished to remain anonymous, told the ABC had asked the driver to separate the delivery orders before he allegedly kicked her.

“I was so scared, like, terrified,” she said.

An Uber driver has been charged with the assault of a young female supermarket worker in broad daylight in Western Australia. Picture: ABC

The young woman, in her early 20s, appeared to be kicked to the ground by the man. Picture: ABC

Her mother, Jodi Hackford, said the alleged assault ”was quite clearly terrifying”.

“She was obviously really upset, and told me how scared she was,” Ms Hackford told the national broadcaster.

In a statement, Uber said it was aware of the incident and apologised to the worker “for her experience and the distress this has caused”.

“Uber does not tolerate any form of violence on the platform, and is now actively investigating the matter,” the company said.

“All driver partners and delivery people are required to pass a criminal check in accordance with each state’s regulations before being eligible to receive trip or order requests.

“Our Community Guidelines clearly set out the rules that we expect all users to follow, and a breach of these guidelines can result in loss of access to the Uber app.”

Ms Hackford said her daughter’s alleged assault presented “a real concern for female safety generally”, as well as a need for information-sharing about alleged incidents with drivers between rideshare companies.

“What checks are they putting in place to make sure that the public is safe?,” she said.

‘I was so scared, like, terrified,’ the young woman told the broadcaster. Picture: ABC

The 27-year-old man was also charged by police with making a threat. Picture: ABC

According to the Australian Retailers Association, there have been over 700,000 incidents of customer abuse in the past year alone – more than half of which were considered serious and included physical assault. A survey in December also revealed 87 per cent of retail and fast-food workers across the country had experienced abuse.

Last July, the West Australian government passed laws to strengthen punishments for those who assault retail workers who, if convicted, can face up to seven years in prison or a fine of as much as $36,000.

Since the laws’ implementation, 329 people have been charged.

“Customer abuse is something we’ve seen really ramp up in the last decade in Australia and WA hasn’t been immune to that,” Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association WA branch secretary Ben Harris told the ABC.

“We’ve seen a lot of members reporting increases in customer aggression, which is leading to violence and making them feel unsafe in their workplaces.”

Originally published as ‘I was terrified’: Uber driver charged with assaulting female supermarket worker