well given what happened, and with hindsight, of course they should - however they couldnt have known that would happen.
99.9% of time she would have just walked home and been fine.
They cannot just drive people around because they ask for it - they are working, not a taxi - I find it hard to believe she couldnt do something, like borrow a couple of quid, get the cab to stop at a cashpoint, get the money from her house when she got home... why go to a party with no cash at all?
i have even paid by cheque, because all the local cashpoints wouldnt pay out for some reason - he didnt particularly want to take it but he had my home address and phone number etc if it bounced.
there is always a way.
problem is there is a problem of people phoning ambulances and the police feigning illness etc just to get a free lift home, and taking the them away from real issues, so they can't be seen to be just driving people home just because they want a lift - if shed been paralytic i dont believe they would not have taken her - nor would her family have let her walk home.
imagine if they had taken her home - and later discovered there had been a violent murder in the very street theyd picked her up in?
imagine the uproar when the family and public found out that their loved one may have been saved had the police not been driving some drunken woman home?
if a murderer is on the prowl then it would just have been some other poor woman.
i totally undertsand them saying no, its just sad that in this rare instance it had terrible consequences.