Radio caller reveals police failure after he ‘nearly lost his life’ in Uber machete ambush

A caller to LBC has relayed a horrific incident in which he nearly “lost his life” after being threatened with a machete while travelling in the back of an Uber. The man, named Aaron, was robbed of his Rolex watch, worth an estimated £20,000, and his phone. He claimed the lack of police response to the incident caused him to “lose faith” in the force. His report coincides with the release of a damning investigation into vetting checks conducted on new hires to the police force which found decisions on officers to be “questionable”.
Speaking to LBC host Shelagh Fogarty, Aaron recounted the incident which occurred as he travelled home from a night out in London
“I jumped into the Uber and the [car] went no more than 20 seconds down the road. I couldn’t understand why the Uber was coming to a stop.
“It came to a stop and I have a person to my left and a person to my right. I had a machete to my throat on the left and a knife in my ribs to the right.”
The caller clarified he was travelling in the Uber alone and speculated that the driver of the car “seems to have been in on it”.
He said: “I nearly lost my life in that moment, that was a very aggressive attack.”
Aaron reported the two men snatched the £20,000 Rolex watch from his wrist and took his iPhone in the incident, which was later reported to the police.
He continued: “This is where it gets really frustrating and this is where I’ve kind of lost faith in the police force.
“I had access to Find my iPhone and I found their address – they went straight to an address and they stayed there the entire next 24 hours.”
He asserted that he had been in “non-stop” contact with officers, urging them to go to the address he had identified.
The caller explained the police never went to the address in question as the force claimed such an intervention “could have ruined the investigation” and officers had to follow the official “process”.
Read more: Damning report finds sex offenders and criminals join police forces