Hey Tom! Take a look a few km's south - over to Germany. During my time on an ambulance in Frankfurt, we got called to a few of those silly calls too - but we don't transport them. This is why (and I don't see why this should not be adapted in other countries): Basically, the ambulance service gets funded by the health insurance, and if you call, they haul - for free. BUT: A doctor needs to approve of this. For non emergency patient transport a doctor will sign a transport certificate beforehand. In an emergency situation either there is a doctor on scene, or the paramedics must decide if the condition of the patient is bad enough to get that certificate after transporting the patient. The paramedics decide if a patient is an ambulance job or not. If the patient *really* wants to go to hospital, they pay for it themselves (costing roughly 400 Euros) Sure this puts more responsibility on the paramedics out there, but it does dampen down silly calls...sound appealing?