Yorkshire Air Ambulance is the latest air ambulance service to issue a warning that bogus clothing collections are still being carried out despite three collection companies being shut down by the Insolvency Service at the end of last year.
Paul Gowland, Yorkshire Air Ambulance’s director of fundraising, told civilsociety.co.uk that it was an ongoing national problem that is “happening everywhere to all of us (air ambulance services)”.
Leaflets from an organisation calling itself Air Ambulance Service have been distributed in Leeds over the past few weeks. These state that it will be collecting on 4 May, even though an outfit that used to have the same name was closed down by the Insolvency Service last November when it was discovered none of the collections were benefitting charities.
In the past month similar warnings have been issued in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Gloucestershire and Worcestershire by the council, police or charities. In Gloucestershire two individuals were arrested.
Gowland said: “Yorkshire Air Ambulance does not door-knock or carry out doorstep collections. We have donation bins in secure places where people can leave donations.”
Yorkshire Air Ambulance has 200 clothing collection bins around the county which between them raise £250,000 per year.
In November 2011 three companies were shut down by the High Court following an investigation by the Insolvency Service. They were called Air Ambulance Support Community Interest Company, St Anthony (Trading Co) Ltd (formerly Air Ambulance Service (Trading Co) Ltd) and St Anthony Repatriation Ltd (formerly Air Ambulance Service).
At the time investigating supervisor David Hill said: “In winding up these companies, the court is sending a clear message that schemes which set out to deliberately mislead the public in this manner are not acceptable and will be closed when we become aware of them.”
Gowland added that: “Nothing that has happened so far has stopped these people.”
A spokesman for the Insolvency Service said they could not comment on whether there were any current investigations.
