I think in Australia (any Australians reading can tell me if I'm right) they charge you for an ambulance if you call one for a stupid reason but it's free for genuine emergencies. That is certainly the system I'd like to see in place here -- plus a way of educating people about what does and doesn't need an ambulance. A lot of these timewasters genuinely believe that calling 999 for an ambulance is an appropriate thing to do when someone has flu/goes into labour/etc and I think you'd get rid of about half of them if they knew it wasn't. It would also help greatly if us call takers were allowed to explain that to them.