Absolutely Fabulous star Joanna Lumley's agent has lodged an official complaint against the organisers of a charity ball which used her name on its promotion leaflets.

Organisers of the fifth Three Chefs charity ball sent out promotional material for its Bradford event on August 26 using Miss Lumley's name, even though they are using lookalikes of her famous Patsy character in the hit TV comedy show to help out on the night.

The organisers are now being investigated by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after Joanna Lumley's agent, Kate Plumpton, made an official complaint.

A spokesman for the ball's organisers refuted claims that anyone buying the £35 a head tickets had been misled. He said those interested in the event were mainly past customers who would know they meant lookalikes and not the real thing.

"I do not think there is anything wrong in what we have done. We didn't mean we have Joanna Lumley as a guest and I don't think anyone would buy tickets just to see her anyway,'' he added.

"We only sent out 1,000 leaflets and they all went to people who have been to the ball before and firms we have come into contact with. They would know we have lookalikes and not Joanna herself.

"We are a charitable group and have raised thousands of pounds over 15 years for charities. We are not trying to do anyone out of any money."

Miss Plumpton confirmed a formal complaint had been lodged with the Advertising Standards Authority yesterday. She said: "The last thing we want is for people to pay £35 for a ticket thinking they are going to be seeing Joanna Lumley and then finding out she will not be there.

"She knows nothing about the event and has never been contacted. We just want people to realise she will not be there and has never been asked to take part."

A spokesman for the ASA warned that, regardless of their aims with the leaflet, the ball's organisers could face a ticking off. He said: "If the adverts are misleading that would fall foul of our code and the first action we would take is to name and shame the organisation responsible.

"If they continued to publish the same material we could apply to the Office of Fair Trading to take out an injunction against them.