I think we can all be thankful for the controller who realised that the pilot was out of his depth because he stated 'cleared to Flight Level 300' and told the PIC to expedite his climb through 4500 feet because otherwise, with all likelihood, the PIC would have levelled off at 3000 feet and smacked into the terrain around the airport......
Having said that, the mind still boggles how ANYONE, irrespective of where they fly, can confuse Flight Level 200 with 2000 feet...... Even if flight levels begin at 18.000 feet in the US, surely he'd have received clearance to Flight Level 240 or similar before and understand that Flight Level 200 and 240 are 4000 feet apart, not 22.000?