It is tough to contest a cleaning charge when your liability of a mate spews all over the back seats of your Uber.

But surely most of us would have to file for bankruptcy if we were fined every time we left half a chip on the seat of our ride home.

Rachel Pangburn, 28, claims she was charged a £25 ($32) cleaning fee for this offence - with Uber initially refusing to refund the fee 'due to the severity of the incident'.

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The marketing manager was on a night out with her boyfriend in Stalybridge, UK, on Saturday when she ordered her Uber home.

She said the driver had no objection to her bringing food in the car and she wasn't made aware of any problems when she left the vehicle at her home in Hyde.

The ride turned out to not be as cheap as chips. Credit: MEN

But the next day, she was shocked to find she had been charged a £25 cleaning fee, on top of her £16.50 fare.

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Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, she said: "It was the third Uber I'd taken that day.

"When we got out of the taxi it was fine. There was no mention of any mess inside.

"On Monday I checked my emails only to find I had been charged £25 as part of a cleaning fee.

"I was like, 'What the hell?'"

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Confused by the charge, she contacted Uber and asked for the fee to be reviewed, but the company declined in an email, in which they attached a picture of the offending half chip.

The email read: "A mess that resulted from your trip required professional cleaning.

"When your driver submits a cleaning fee request, we assess and charge the cleaning fee per the extent of the mess and reasonable cost of cleaning.

"Due to the severity of the incident on this trip, a cleaning fee of £25.00 was applied."

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Uber initially declined to refund the cleaning fee. Credit: MEN

Subsequently, Rachel has decided to no longer use the ride-hailing service.

She said: "How can you charge that much to remove half a chip?

"If you look on the picture you can see a load of crumbs too. It just looks like the car needed a valet and he charged us for it.

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"I use Ubers all of the time but I never will again after what's happened."

Uber has since refunded the fee and is conducting a further investigation.

A spokesman told the Manchester Evening News: "The Uber app is based on mutual respect for both riders and drivers. For licensed drivers who use the app, their vehicles are their place of work and any damage or mess can mean they are unable to continue working.

"When a driver claims a cleaning fee, they are required to provide us with the details of the trip and the incident as well as photographic evidence and a validated cleaning receipt.

"In this instance, we have refunded the rider and re-opened the claim for further investigation by our support team. We are constantly evaluating our processes and technology related to these claims and will take appropriate action whenever fraud may be detected."