Blacklisted Ola drivers protest, demand reinstatement

Hundreds of drivers blacklisted by online cab aggregator Ola gathered near its office in Murugeshpalya on Monday morning and staged a protest, demanding they be reinstated.

The situation was tense for some time as they gathered and started arguing with Ola officials. But the police who intervened and brought the situation under control, sent the drivers out of the office premises.

One of the protesting drivers said Ola had blacklisted innocent drivers on false complaints by customers. "We don’t have any problem if they blacklist drivers who have criminal cases or have misbehaved with female customers. Drivers were blacklisted without any notice and we had given them 15 days' time to re-examine the complaints and take back innocent drivers," he said.

An Ola spokesperson said drivers were their main resource and at the same time, the safety of women passengers were their topmost priority. "We have zero tolerance towards safety. We have been blacklisting drivers who misbehave with passengers and also there were a couple of molestation cases reported earlier. Soon after the investigations are and after the drivers are found guilty, we blacklist them in the interest of passengers. We had blacklisted drivers facing serious complaints and those with a poor customer feedback reported on the app and other issues," the spokesperson said.