'Charity' firms shut by judge (From Oxford Mail)

'Charity' firms shut by judge

11:00am Monday 14th November 2011 in News By Andrew Ffrench

TWO companies operating ‘rogue’ air ambulance charity collections from Bicester have been closed down.

The two firms – St Anthony (Trading Co) Ltd, and St Anthony Repatriation Ltd – were both registered to an address in Bernwood Road, Bicester, and were closed by the High Court in London.

They were previously known as Air Ambulance Service (Trading Co) Ltd and Air Ambulance Service respectively. A third company, Air Ambulance Support Community Interest Company, registered to Lozells Road, Birmingham, was also closed after the investigation by the Insolvency Service.

It found that the three companies targeted residents through misleading charity bag drop-offs and collections.

Several local authorities received complaints about the companies’ activities, including Oxfordshire County Council.

The Insolvency Service said the companies made misleading representations that proceeds raised from the sale of unwanted clothing would be donated to local air ambulance charities.

Both St Anthony companies had a common director, Anthony Durkin, who we were unable to contact yesterday.

Due to the failure of the companies to maintain adequate accounting records, Insolvency Service officials said it was not known what became of funds generated from the sale of donated clothing.

No evidence was found of any donations to air ambulance charities.

Thames Valley and Chiltern Air Ambulance spokesman Laura Nicholas said: “This is fantastic news because people now know that what they are donating to is genuine.

“These rogue organisations cause a lot of confusion for the public and that affects the level of donations.”

Investigation 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 are not acceptable.”

The companies’ activities were found to be misleading and in breach of regulations included in the House to House Collections Act 1939, concerning door-to- door leaflet dropping where charitable purposes are included.

In October, Oxfordshire Trading Standards launched a probe into Air Ambulance Service and told bosses to alter the wording of its leaflet.