In a damning report into Stoke Air Ambulance Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), the Fundraising Regulator said the charity ‘did not have access to any aircraft or an established base to launch from’, nor did it ‘employ any clinicians or have the required approval from the Care Quality Council’.

‘Potential donors might reasonably believe their gifts would support a working service’, the regulator said.

Issues with governance and financial controls at Stoke Air Ambulance, which was set up in July 2015, are also being investigated by the Charity Commission. The charity reported income of £331,927 from donations in 2024, up from £54,000 in 2023. It has six staff, and three trustees are listed on the Charity Commission register, and is run by chair Daniel Michael Moores