Just one of numerous issues with TVDE passenger transport
Ever since Portugal ‘embraced’ TVDE (online passenger transport platforms), issues and complaints have skyrocketed. They range from the fairly mundane “my driver had no idea where he was going/ didn’t speak Portuguese” to the bizarre (“we weren’t allowed to put our bags in the trunk as someone was sleeping there”).
But much more serious complaints have also peppered the landscape, involving sexual abuse – always of women who have hired a lift, through an app, and are essentially then at the mercy of a much stronger individual if things go pear-shaped.
The latest case to ‘hit the headlines’ comes this morning, through tabloid Correio da Manhã, in which the ‘attack’ appears to have happened because the passenger was sleeping, and full of alcohol.
According to the report, the driver transported her to within a few hundred metres of her home, and then, taking advantage of the fact that she was asleep, stopped the car, and entered the back, where he began his assault.
The young woman, described as aged 20, woke up during the incident, and did her best to fight the driver off, says CM’s report.
The upshot was that he returned to his seat, drove her the remaining distance home, and left her ‘at her door’.
Traumatised by the whole experience, the young woman called PSP police, who in turn passed the case to the PJ.
PJ inspectors located the suspect a few days later, arrested him – and a judge, accepting there is a flight risk, has remanded him in custody.
The TVDE driver faces the charge of sexual abuse of a person incapable of resistence, and criminal intention.
