An antique shop owner clamped an UberEats driver’s wheel after the man parked outside the property for five minutes – then charged him $350 to release it.
The driver parked in a private car park for Bashford Antiques in Ponsonby, Auckland, while picking up an order from a nearby Italian restaurant around 8pm on Friday.
Although the store closed at 6pm, its owner Michael Organ clamped the driver’s wheel and demanded the fee to release it, the New Zealand Herald reports.
The driver parked in a private car park for Bashford Antiques in Ponsonby, Auckland, while picking up an order from a nearby Italian restaurant around 8pm on Friday
A woman who was driving by stopped when she saw the men arguing – and captured audio where the driver revealed he was only making $4 or $5 for the job.
‘Don’t charge people $350 for parking there for five minutes. This poor guy,’ she is heard saying in the clip.
Mr Organ is heard threatening to call the police a number of times.
The driver argues that he was just there for a delivery job, but Mr Organ insists he must pay the fee.
The woman, who asked not to be named, told the NZ Herald that after she stopped recording, the driver called to ask a friend to transfer him some money.
‘I wish I could have helped him financially but I didn’t have that much money in my bank account either to be honest,’ she told the newspaper.
But Mr Organ said he is tired of people who are visiting the Pane e Vino restaurant using his car park.
Five people live above his shop, he said, so it didn’t matter if the parking was after his store closed.
Mr Organ claimed Tito Cucciniello, the owner of the restaurant, had told delivery drivers to park there – something he denied to the Herald.
It’s not the first time Mr Organ has clamped those who have parked in his car park.
Last month, he charged a couple $760 to unclamp a wheel – claiming the sum was because they’d parked across two spaces.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Uber for comment.