Aaron was charged £470 for a £20 journey. Pic: Mark Warner (Flickr)

An Uber passenger was taken home to Croydon via Bristol and charged £440 for a trip that should have cost £20.

Aaron Wray fell asleep in his Uber ride, hoping to be home in 20 minutes, but was shocked when he woke up to a five hour and 21 minute journey to Bristol.

The 18-year-old instantly messaged his friend, to let her know of his confusion. “My phone was dead so I just had to sit there. I tried to ask the driver a few questions but he couldn’t really speak English,” he told the Sun newspaper.

Wray had only realised he had been to Bristol and back after receiving his £467 receipt, which his friend, Grace, later tweeted and became an internet sensation for with just over 15,000 shares in under two hours.

He said in a text to her: “Woke up and it said 2hrs and 30 mins to get home”. She replied: “So you were actually in the uber when it went to Bristol?” To which he said: “Yeah, I was in it for five hours and 21 minutes.”

The driver, known only as Abdi by the app, only received a rating of one star for the five and a half hour trip.

It seems like the app registered Croydon St in Bristol rather than Croydon itself. However, Wray insisted that the correct location was confirmed just before the journey began so he was unaware as to where it all went wrong.

According to the Sun, Uber only agreed to reimburse Aaron after his experience went viral.