Was Our Driver Lying

This was in a small city in México. We were heading home from a restaurant that is in a shopping plaza that requires a 7 peso fee to exit. Two separate drivers accepted the ride (our fare was 55 pesos, one peso = 5.8 cents, US) and then appeared to cancel just as they got to the entrance of the plaza. We decided to cancel and head to the main street, about a ten minute walk over a bridge crossing a main street.

We requested an Uber once on the street and one of the drivers who had accepted our earlier ride was the driver. From where he was at when he accepted, he had to circle around about a mile and the pickup took about ten minutes from the request, at least thirty minutes from when he accepted our first request.

When we were in the car, we asked why he canceled on us earlier. He said it wasn't him, it was the app. That's what I'm questioning, wouldn't he have had to cancel the original ride after accepting, driving ten minutes, and the being just outside of the shopping plaza parking lot?

Unless the driver scares the hell out of my girlfriend, I always tip. This driver wasted a half hour and ended up with no tip to save 7 pesos.

Was his explanation plausible or a lie?