Alex Scott Terrified After Attempted Kidnap by Driver Who Threatened to Kill Her

Alex Scott has previously recalled how she was almost kidnapped by an Uber driver who threatened to kill her.

The 41-year-old former Arsenal defender, who is currently in the Australian jungle on ITV reality show I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here, made over 140 appearances for England before calling time on her career.

Like many others in the game, Scott made the successful transition into football punditry and has since covered a number of major international tournaments for men’s football, including the 2018 World Cup.

Here, while working for the BBC in Russia, she endured a terrifying ordeal involving a Moscow-based Uber driver.

Speaking in her autobiography How (Not) To Be Strong, Scott revealed how she would often use pre-booked cars for any work trips as part of security protocols.

However, things took an ugly turn when she organised an Uber for a 15-minute trip back to the hotel after spending time with a friend.

Alex Scott pictured in Moscow. Image credit: Getty

Scott recalled the terrifying incident in her memoir. “He looked at me and said – in English – ‘Tell them they will never see you again.’

“‘I don’t understand,’ I stammered.

“My Uber driver picked up his phone and spoke into it, waiting for me to see the words as they appeared via Google Translate. ‘Tonight I am not taking you home,’ [it] read. ‘You come with me.’”

As per The Mirror, Scott said the experience left her body “numb” and the Uber driver told her of the “horrible, terrible things” he did to women like her via Google Translate and his broken English.

During her trip to the World Cup, Scott met with Russian President Vladimir Putin before the Uber driver ordeal. She says mentioning his name helped in her time of need.

The former Arsenal defender claimed she texted her agent to send a search party if she wasn’t back in 15 minutes.

Scott opened up on the message the driver showed her using his phone, with the man saying he ‘killed’ women like her.

After seeing the Kremlin – and with no feasible route of escape due to the doors being locked – Scott told the “stacked bald man” she planned to meet with Putin.

“‘Oh my God,’ was my first thought... ‘I’m never going to see Mum again,’” she said.

Scott added: “Putin! I had been with Putin that morning! ‘You can’t kill me,’ I said. ‘I have to see Putin tomorrow.’”

Scott was working for the BBC in Russia. Image credit: Getty

When the man refused to believe her Putin claim, Scott was able to pull up an image of her with the Russian head of state, and the driver’s tone drastically changed.

“He started laughing. ‘No one sees Putin’. I was scrambling now, pulling up photos from the morning’s visit to the Kremlin that had made newspaper headlines,” Scott recalled.

“His laughter died and I could see the cogs whirring as he tried to process what I was showing him. ‘If I don’t see Putin tomorrow, he will find you.’

Scott was returned to her hotel, but not before the driver touched her legs and tried to kiss her ahead of her desperate escape from the vehicle.

She continued: “I knew then what a near-miss I’d had but, rather than confront it, I just... brushed aside the incident like it had never happened. I didn’t want people to worry about me or think I couldn’t handle myself – just like when I was young.”