A London customer's viral social media post has exposed serious security concerns about food delivery services after discovering his Uber Eats order was delivered by an unregistered substitute driver.
Matt Stevens told GB News he was "staggered" when a man delivered his food instead of the female driver named Sadia who was shown in the app.
After taking a photo of the unexpected delivery person and reporting the incident through the Uber app, Stevens said he received only "copied and pasted messages" indicating the company wasn't concerned.
His subsequent social media post about the incident has garnered 28 million views, triggering hundreds of messages from across the country reporting similar experiences in cities including Luton, Liverpool and Manchester.
Matt Stevens told GB News he was "staggered" when a man delivered his food
GB News
He told Martin Daubney on GB News: "This could be anybody. They could be on the sex offenders register. They could be a criminal.
"They could be working here illegally. We've got no idea. Nobody knows because you haven't got to register and they go through no checks. It's a scandal."
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A document shared in Facebook groups confirmed that since October 2022, delivery drivers have not been required to notify Uber Eats when using substitutes.
The practice has become widespread, with drivers reportedly subletting their accounts on Facebook for a fee.
He explained: "So that means that anybody could could legitimately get an Uber Eats or perhaps other suppliers job and then appoint a second or third party, and they don't need to inform them all and nothing can be done about it.
"It's astonishing. It could be me, it could be you. It could literally be anyone. And this is the scandal because nobody has any idea who's delivering the food.
"The real benefit of delivering through UberEats is that you know who's delivering your food.
"Apparently not anymore. Apparently, we don't care about that. There could be a way of solving this.
"I spoke to an Uber taxi driver earlier today, he says that the Uber Taxi app has facial recognition built in, as every phone does.
"So when you log on to do a job, it has to scan you to see if you're that person, they're licensed. They have to be insured. It's much more rigorous to get a taxi gig than it is a food delivery gig."
Stevens expressed particular concern about women's safety,
GB News
Stevens expressed particular concern about women's safety, criticising London Mayor Sadiq Khan's approach to the issue.
"Sadiq Khan always goes on about women's safety, which the Lord will aim to try and solve it. But actually he's turning a blind eye to this.
"It's really, really dangerous having unvetted criminals potentially on people's doorsteps. The political class have to get a grip."
He described the lack of background checks as "astonishing" and said the current situation was "just not good enough" and "putting people at risk."
