The article gives a combinatorial characterisation of a ruled cubic surface in PG(4, q). In PG(4, q), q odd, q >= 9, a set kappa of q(2) 2q + 1 points is a ruled cubic surface if and only if kappa has class [q + 1, 2q + 1, 3q + 1](3) such that every plane that contains four points of kappa contains at least q + 1 points of kappa. Crown Copyright (C) 2020 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.