Bolt addresses assaults complaints by its riders and rivers

Last week, a rider was caught in a viral video, launching physical attacks on a Bolt driver, an accident that attracted mixed reactions from social media users.

While the social media users who reacted to the incident sought to know why the rider was physically abusing the driver, others petitioned Bolt to investigate the matter, and meted out outright punishment to the offender.

When this writer approached Nthabiseng Mokoena, the Public Relations Manager of Bolt Africa, she explained that contrary to People’s belief the company’s drivers are not protected, even though a rider is at fault in the case of an assault incident, the ride-hailing service doesn’t tolerate abuse of any kind.

She said, “We take every complaint very seriously and where a crime or safety-related allegation is made, the driver or passenger making the report is encouraged to report the incident to law enforcement while the issue is escalated internally to our Legal team who may also proceed to petition law enforcement for further investigation and eventual resolution. Our team also supports their investigation with the full details of any internal preliminary investigation and related data as requested by law enforcement.”

Revealing how it handles assault cases, she explained that “when any safety-related complaints are received from a driver or a passenger including harassment or assault, the report is handled by Bolt’s High Priority Incidents Team who are tasked to collect detailed information of the incident and perform a preliminary investigation of the facts in the complaint.

“While the initial investigations of any safety-related incidents are ongoing, the passenger or driver being reported will have their access to the platform temporarily suspended until the resolution of the complaint. And if such passenger or driver is ultimately found to have committed a serious safety-related action, their access to the platform is permanently revoked.”

Mokoena, however, clarified that an account deactivation is the legal extent of action that can be taken by Bolt to punish assault offenders.