this happens quite a bit in the u.s. too... you know, it's amazing when millionaire athletes can't think to call somebody for a ride, or shell out what amounts to NOTHING to them for a cab.
just about anybody will come pick you up i found out early on - i called a professor while i was at university once and she got her arse outta bed at 2:30 in the morning and thanked ME (ha!) for calling. i told her she could thank me by letting me miss class the next day, she wouldn't have it. she offered everybody that at the start of term, i thought she was a bitch at first because of her strictness, but she actually really cared...
umm, sorry bout memory lane... so what were we discussing?