Imagine getting in your car after a hard day’s night, putting your keys in the ignition and getting...nothing.

Your car will not start. The lights won’t turn on. Nor will the power windows work. The battery is dead. Unless you have a friend in the area with jumper cables, you are probably out of luck.

Or suppose you get in your car and realize you forgot an important file. You race back to your office to retrieve it, only to find that you locked your keys in your car. You could call an automotive locksmith, and pay a hefty fee, or a roadside assistance service, and potentially wait for hours.

Your other alternative is to phone Penn’s Division of Public Safety (DPS), who will come to your rescue, for free, in approximately 15 minutes.

From 10 a.m. to 3 a.m., seven days a week, the services are available to motorists located within the Penn patrol and University City patrol zones, stretching from Spring Garden Street to Woodland Avenue, and 30th street to 50th  street. In the hours between 3 a.m. and 10 a.m., the service area becomes smaller, stretching from 30th Street to S. 43rd Street and from Market Street to Baltimore Avenue.

“Just like the many other Public Safety programs, including the Walking Escorts, UPennAlert, Penn Guardian and self-defense classes, these motorist-assistance services are free of charge,” says Cherie Heller, director of DPS’s Department of Security Services.

 To use the lockout and jumpstart services, call 215-573-3333 (or dial 511 from a campus phone). A Public Safety officer will be dispatched to your location.