TAAS charity bags mistaken as ‘bogus’
An article published by local newspaper the Hertfordshire Mercury at the end of February highlighted concern over charity donation bags delivered to local residents, which a police community support officer warned were bogus. According to the report, the officer posted a warning on the Facebook page of a Neighbourhood Watch group, saying: “It has been brought to my attention that charity bags purporting to be in aid of the air ambulance have been put through doors in the area.” A spokesperson for the Hertfordshire Constabulary advised that the message was ‘sent with good intention following a concern from a member of the public’
An article published by local newspaper the Hertfordshire Mercury at the end of February highlighted concern over charity donation bags delivered to local residents, which a police community support officer warned were bogus. According to the report, the officer posted a warning on the Facebook page of a Neighbourhood Watch group, saying: “It has been brought to my attention that charity bags purporting to be in aid of the air ambulance have been put through doors in the area.” A spokesperson for the Hertfordshire Constabulary advised that the message was ‘sent with good intention following a concern from a member of the public’.
However, although there have been a number of cases of bogus bags being distributed in the UK in the past, the bags in question were in fact sent out by the Air Ambulance Service (TAAS), a legitimate helicopter charity that operates the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance (WNAA) and the Derbyshire, Leicestershire & Rutland Air Ambulance (DLRAA). Since 2011, TAAS also incorporates The Children’s Air Ambulance (TCAA), which, in contrast with the existing services in the UK, would provide a national response. Whereas the regional, county-based charities focus on helicopter emergency medical services and tend to fundraise exclusively within their own areas of operations, TCAA is intended to provide a national paediatric and neonatal interhospital transfer service; TCAA has therefore undertaken fundraising initiatives across a wider area.
In a statement issued in October last year, the Association of Air Ambulances, a body representing the majority of the UK’s air ambulance helicopter charities – but not TAAS – warned that the launch of TCAA could lead to ‘public confusion’. This concern was picked up by the BBC in its Inside Out programme broadcast in early February.
Responding to the recent distribution of TAAS bags in Hertfordshire, Cliff Gale, operations director of the Essex & Herts Air Ambulance Trust (EHAAT), echoed the worry that donors could be confused: “If people think they are donating something to their local air ambulance, they are not. The other charity needs to make it clear what their bags are for.” He added: “I have no problem with charities fundraising, but I am sure some people are filling up the bags thinking they are supporting the local air ambulance. We are quite keen to make sure people are informed of what they are doing.”
In statements reported by the Hertfordshire Mercury, a TAAS spokesperson explained that in contrast to services such as EHAAT, TCAA will be ‘solely dedicated to transferring sick children from local hospitals to specialist paediatric intensive care units across the UK’. She continued: “This is a very separate role from other air ambulance services which provide a vital localised, rapid response in emergency situations such as road traffic incidents.”
The newspaper’s report concluded with a statement from the spokesperson that ‘no other air ambulance in the UK has the specific capability and equipment to fly critically ill children and babies’. However, when questioned on this by Waypoint, the TAAS issued this clarification: “TAAS is the umbrella organisation for three services, including TCAA, which will provide an emergency transfer service in between hospitals across England. In the news story in the Herefordshire Mercury, unfortunately there was a mistake which meant that the service was quoted as being the only charity of its kind in the UK, when in fact it is the only helicopter transfer service for children in England. As a national charity which receives no Government or National Lottery funding, it fundraises in communities across the country in order to raise the £134,000 a month needed to run the vital service. Recycling is a valuable source of income and door-to-door collections will help the charity raise funds to help critically ill children and babies across the country get the specialist lifesaving care they need.”
The Hertfordshire Constabulary, the police force to which the police community support officer belongs, told Waypoint: “Hertfordshire Constabulary alerted members of the public via an Online Watch Link messaging system that charity bags left for an air ambulance charity in a part of the country miles from Hertfordshire could possibly be a scam. When we conducted further investigations, we realised that the bags were for a genuine charity in another part of the country who had targeted Hertfordshire and have since apologised for this.”
An image of an example of a TAAS bag, allegedly matching the bags in question, was sent to Waypoint. The bag depicted shows the logos of TAAS, WNAA, DLRAA and TCAA, along with the slogan ‘saving lives nationwide’, but gives no explanation of the services provided by WNAA and DLRAA – or that TCAA, which has not yet begun paediatric transfer flights, intends to provide. Asked to explain the slogan, to confirm whether this image matches the bags distributed and comment on whether the wording is clear enough, TAAS responded: "After feedback and having reviewed it internally, The Air Ambulance Service has recently changed its slogan [to saving lives] in order to help clarify the service it provides. The charity would never seek to mislead members of the public and all three logos are pictured on the recycling bag, including that of The Children's Air Ambulance, which is a nationwide service that will fly critically ill children and babies from across England in between hospitals so that they can get the specialist lifesaving care they need."