Nightmare on the Road: Riyadh–Kuwait Journey Leaves Two Women Terrified

17/04/2026

KUWAIT CITY, Apr 17: Travelers planning cross-border road journeys are being urged to exercise caution after a recent incident highlighted the risks of relying on rental car arrangements. What appeared to be a professionally organized trip quickly turned into a frightening experience for two women traveling from Riyadh to Kuwait, underscoring the importance of verifying drivers, payment channels, and company accountability before setting out.

Two women traveling alone from Riyadh to Kuwait found themselves trapped in a deeply unsettling and increasingly terrifying ordeal after what began as a routine cross-border journey spiraled into a situation they described as “borderline abduction.”

The women had rented a vehicle through a company recommended by an embassy in Kuwait — a detail that initially gave them a sense of safety and legitimacy. The vehicle company’s representatives were polite, responsive, and reassuring, offering a “high-end vehicle” with a professional driver whose details were shared in advance.

But unease crept in even before the journey began.

On the eve of their departure, the assigned driver contacted them directly via WhatsApp, asking basic questions about timing that had already been finalized with the company. The inconsistency was subtle but troubling. Still, with everything appearing officially arranged, they chose to proceed.

At first, nothing seemed out of place. The driver was friendly, conversational, and even offered them shawarma along the way. The road stretched normally ahead, and the border crossing passed without incident.

Then, everything changed.

Shortly after entering the Kuwait border, the driver abruptly demanded payment.

The woman calmly explained that the full amount of 250 Kuwaiti Dinars had already been paid to the rental company the previous day. What followed sent a wave of panic through the car.

The driver denied any knowledge of the payment.

He claimed he was not employed by the company at all, but had simply picked up the trip through a ride-hailing or dispatch platform.

Inside the moving vehicle, the atmosphere shifted instantly from routine to threatening.

Communication quickly deteriorated. With no shared language, both sides relied on translation apps — until the driver lost internet connectivity entirely after crossing the border. Messages became fragmented, misunderstood, or delayed. Frustration escalated into anger.

Then came the threat.

The driver warned that unless he was paid, he would turn the car around and drive them all the way back to Riyadh.

Moments later, the situation took an even darker turn.

The vehicle suddenly veered off the main highway, leaving behind the structured road network and heading into isolated desert areas near oil refinery zones in southern Kuwait. The surroundings grew emptier, more desolate, long stretches of barren land with no immediate help in sight.

Inside the car, fear set in.

The panicked women began sharing their live location with friends, sending urgent messages, unsure of where they were being taken or how far this situation might escalate. Every wrong turn into the desert deepened their sense of being cut off and vulnerable.

“It felt like we were no longer in control of where we were going,” one of them later recounted.

Desperate to regain some safety, they repeatedly urged the driver to head to a police station. After prolonged tension and negotiation, he reluctantly agreed — but the uncertainty never lifted.

Meanwhile, attempts to reach the rental company turned into a nightmare of silence.

Calls went unanswered. Messages were ignored. The owner, who had personally taken the full payment, was unreachable.

It was only after the women issued a final, urgent warning that they would formally report the situation to the Police Station that the company owner suddenly responded. He then contacted the driver, leading to a heated argument in Arabic that the women could not understand, further amplifying their anxiety as voices rose and tensions flared inside the vehicle.

But instead of heading directly to safety, the driver made another decision.

He insisted on taking them to the company owner’s residence in Shuwaikh first to collect his payment, before completing their journey.

At this point, the women say they felt like “hostages,” trapped in a situation they could neither control nor safely exit. They remained on their phones continuously, updating friends, sharing locations, and bracing for the worst.

Relief only came when friends managed to track them down and arrive at the location.

At the residence, the company owner appeared dismissive, claiming he had been asleep, despite it being nearly 4:00 PM, before casually handing over part of the payment to the driver in front of them.

But the ordeal was not over.

Even after leaving, the women received another call from the driver. His tone remained tense. He revealed he had been paid only 165 Kuwaiti Dinars, far less than the 250 Kuwaiti Dinars the women had already paid the company, and expressed anger over the discrepancy.

The call served as a final reminder of how dangerously mishandled the entire situation had been.

According to the women, the incident exposed a deeply alarming level of negligence. The company failed to assign a verified in-house driver and instead outsourced the journey to an unknown third party without proper coordination, payment clarity, or accountability.

What should have been a straightforward trip between two neighboring countries turned into a frightening experience marked by confusion, isolation, and moments of real fear, leaving the women shaken and raising serious concerns about passenger safety in such arrangements.

By John C Fernandes
Online Media Manager, Arab Times