THE air ambulance service have seen an increase in bags of clothing intended for the charity being stolen, ultimately leading to a loss of vital funds.
John Ballan, who manages the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) charity’s trading company said: "We really appreciate everyone who fills their bags with unwanted clothing and other items to support GNAAS, but unfortunately, we have seen an increase in bag thefts.
"There have been reports of people in unmarked vans picking up our bags which clearly display our name and logo and are obviously not intended for them.
"Every time one of these bags is not picked up by our team, the charity is losing money, which could have been spent on providing life-saving care in the region.”
The trading company raises on average £15,000 a month which covers the cost of three missions carried out by the charity’s critical care team.
The independent service does not rely on government funding, and therefore has to raise £6.7m a year through donations to remain operational.
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To help combat the issue of bag thefts, the GNAAS trading company offer a service Monday to Saturday, where people can book in a collection at a pre-arranged time, so they can feel reassured that their donated items are going directly to GNAAS’ recycling team - the service can be booked via GNAAS' Facebook page.
In addition to collecting from individuals’ homes, there are several supporters who host community collections at their homes, as well as locations such as business premises and village halls.
Jordan Mattinson, 29, from Whitehaven, is just one of the supporters who has utilised spare space to store clothing donated by the local community.
"We decided to utilise the empty Whitehaven Rugby Club and make use of the spare time we had on our hands, little did we know the first collection would amass over 10 tonnes of clothing.
"It shows how much the local community value the services of GNAAS.”
If you would like to book in a pre-arranged collection or are interested in hosting your own community collection, please call 01325 308 139 or message GNAAS’ Facebook page.
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