London Air Ambulance warns of bogus charity collections
The charity, which runs the capital’s only air ambulance, is warning Londoners against a bogus company claiming to collect donations for an air ambulance service.
London’s Air Ambulance, based on the roof landing pad at Whitechapel’s Royal London hospital, is urging people to be aware of a door-to-door company calling itself the ‘Air Ambulance Service’. This is not a registered charity and London’s Air Ambulance is not receiving any donations from this service, a spokeswoman said.
LAA has been alerted to this company collecting clothes and lottery money in the Wanstead and Eltham areas recently. “Clothes recycling and more so the lottery are valuable sources of income to the charity, who do employ door-to-door canvassers,” the spokeswoman said.
Charity Director, David Oakley, said: “We are quite angry that they are purporting to collect on our behalf.”
The spokeswoman added “The Charity would like to take this opportunity to tell people to be careful, but urge them to continue supporting and not hesitate to phone our fundraising office if they are unsure,” she added.
You may also want to watch:
Earlier this month four men were arrested after police raided a depot in Essex as part of an investigation into charity bag collection fraud.
The City of London police seized second-hand clothes worth hundreds of thousands of pounds to charities in a raid on a suspected criminal gang. They also seized �20,000 in cash, along with charity bags, computers and correspondence. All four men were released on bail.
Most Read
- 1 Ethnic communities not taking up Covid jabs, Tower Hamlets Mayor warns
- 2 Man sentenced after teenage boy groomed on Snapchat to sell heroin
- 3 'Racist consultation' protest rejected on Tower Hamlets street closures as Labour sticks to its manifesto
- 4 Council fined for Alexia Walenkaki's playground death in Mile End and says sorry to family
- 5 Airbnb house party violence leaves police officer with broken finger
- 6 NHS nurse assaulted at east London hospital
- 7 Police hunt after stabbing in Cable Street: One man hurt
- 8 Covid vaccination hub opening in Westfield next week
- 9 Streets around proposed Chinese embassy building could be renamed after persecuted Muslims
- 10 Death of woman, 75, in Mile End fire could have been avoided
Charity bag fraud is estimated to be costing the third sector up to �50m each year, leading to the cancellation of vital aid projects.