The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld a complaint against ads by Magpas made by fellow air ambulance service, the East Anglian Air Ambulance.

The East Anglian Air Ambulance had objected to two banners, which appeared in various locations in the region, and copy on the Magpas website to the effect that Magpas could respond to a crisis call within 30 minutes at any time of night or day in the East of England. One of the banners read: “Saving Lives Night and Day” and “Your night time air ambulance service”.

The ASA has agreed with the complaints by the East Anglian Air Ambulance that these adverts were likely to mislead consumers. It argued that Magpas was not the primary air ambulance in all the regions in which the ads appeared, and that it could not back claims to be available at any time of night.

Magpas responded with evidence that it was at the time the only air ambulance service available at night time in the UK; aviation rules restrict civilian aircraft during the night time, but the charity had an agreement with the local police force which meant it could use their helicopters between 1am and 7am. The charity also demonstrated that it had attended incidents in all of the 13 primary care trusts in the East of England and that its flight times showed it had attended the incidents within 30 minutes.

However, the ASA judged the advertisements to be misleading and ordered the charity not to repeat them in their current form. The regulator felt that the data provided did not sufficiently show that Magpas is able to provide doctors on helicopters to people in need at any time of day in East of England.

A spokeswoman for Magpas said that the organisation has dealt with all the communications with the ASA.