An Uber passenger was charged almost $39,000 for a 15-minute journey after the destination was incorrectly set to Australia

• A passenger was charged almost $39,000 for a 15-minute Uber ride, according to reports.
• Oliver Kaplan, 22, ordered an Uber after finishing work to meet some friends about four miles away.

An Uber passenger was charged more than £35,000, or around $39,000, for a 15-minute journey after his destination was accidentally set to Australia.

The Independent and Manchester Evening News were the first to report the story.

Oliver Kaplan, 22, ordered an Uber in a city near Manchester, England, after he finished work to go and meet some friends about four miles away.

Uber quoted the journey to be between £10 and £11, Kaplan told the news outlets. However, the next morning, he woke up to an email from the ride-hailing app saying he had insufficient funds to pay his charge of £35,427.97, per screenshots shared with Manchester Evening News.

Kaplan told the outlets: "I ordered an Uber like I do most nights on the way home from work and everything seemed normal. The driver arrived, I got in the Uber and he took me exactly where I was meant to be going."

"It was a 15-minute journey – tops – and the bill was said to be between £10 and £11, charged to my debit card," he said.

However, when he woke up hungover the next day, "the last thing I expected was a charge of over £35,00," Kaplan added.

He rushed to contact Uber's customer service through the app. The person he spoke to, who at first seemed stumped, according to Kaplan, said the bill was so high because the drop-off location had been wrongly set to Australia.

After verification, Uber adjusted the price and Kaplan was charged £10.73.

Kaplan told Manchester Evening News: "If I had that sort of money, I would have had to chase them for a refund – it could have landed me in all sorts of financial trouble."

Uber did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment made outside normal working hours.

The company told the Manchester Evening News: "As soon as this issue was raised on Oliver's account we immediately corrected the fare. We're very sorry for any inconvenience caused."