An Ottawa mother is calling out Uber after she watched one of the company's cars pull away with her three-year-old son inside.

Erika Godin, 32, said she summoned an Uber around 5:30 p.m. Thursday to take her son, Mason, to a Christmas potluck at his daycare near the General campus of the Ottawa Hospital, about two kilometres from their home near the Trainyards neighbourhood.

I never gave him any words that would make him think, 'Hey, I'm leaving my three-year-old son in this car by himself.' - Erika Godin

When the car arrived, Godin placed Mason in the back seat beside her purse and a dish, then closed the door and began walking around to the other side to get in.

That's when the car began driving away.

"It was just an awful experience," Godin said. "Am I supposed to stay here? Am I supposed to chase him?"

Godin said she managed to bang on the car and briefly gave chase, but the driver seemed not to notice.

Ottawa mother Erika Godin says an Uber driver drove off with her three-year-old son in an incident police are calling a 'miscommunication.' 0:35

911 call

Then she remembered a new feature on the Uber app that lets customers in distress summon emergency services. She was soon speaking with a 911 operator who kept her on the phone for more than 20 minutes while police were deployed to track down the car.

Police soon located the car — with Mason safe in the back seat — near Godin's original destination.

The driver, a 58-year-old man, was charged under Ontario's Highway Traffic Act with failing to ensure a child passenger is properly secured.

Otherwise, police said the whole thing was a bizarre miscommunication between the driver and the boy's mother.

Godin isn't satisfied with that explanation, however.

"I never gave him any words that would make him think, 'Hey, I'm leaving my three-year-old son in this car by himself."

Police located Mason Godin, 3, safe and sound in the back seat of the car. (Supplied)

A 'miscommunication,' Uber says

She said it was the most frightening experience of her life.

"It was the worst thing ever," she said. "You're so scared and frantic and terrified."

She's also angry with the meagre response she's received from Uber.

"Uber has not been dealing very well with it at all," she said.

In an email to CBC News, the ride-hailing company agreed with police that the incident resulted from a "miscommunication."

"An experience such as this would obviously cause great stress for a parent," the company wrote.