Alan Taylor, 63 years 23rd March 1947 to 14th July 2010

Born in West Ham in East London, moving outwards to the County of Essex, working in the family business until at 23 years of age he joined Kent Police. His early days of policing saw him courting his wife to be Ann, and they have been together for 37 years.

He was an active thief taker, an advanced driver, and undertook specialisation as a dog handler. He had two dogs over 12 years in the Forces’ Dog Section and was often recognised for their valiant efforts. He enjoyed the camaraderie of the police service, had a keen ethos of wanting to help people, and never knowingly let anyone down.

His later career involved him with policing the Ports to mainland Europe. In this role in the 1990’s he showed great vision and passion in contributing to combating the problem of stolen vehicles, leaving the UK to other countries from where repatriation was unlikely. He wanted an early intervention, but no opportunities existed, as the 43 different United Kingdom Police Forces did not share information with the Ports in a timely way.

The solution was twofold, the new emerging technology of automatic number plate recognition systems on cameras, and a partnership approach with the automotive finance industry. The merging of these two data sets, police stolen vehicles and finance companies telling police of default vehicles meant that Industry could invest at the point of exit from this country with hardware that Police would manage.

Alan was a key mover and shaker in ensuring that all the partners came together for the common purpose, of reducing automotive crime. The result was the Ports Anti Theft System, with an acronym of PATSY, and the success of this early deployment was phenomenal. Alan was soon speaking to Detectives all over the United Kingdom, telling them they had their stolen vehicles recovered by this scheme. He had contacts everywhere and knew everyone by name.

Alan had always been a keen mason, at the Lullingstone Lodge at Dartford, but his new work role attracted his membership of IAATI, the International Association of Auto Theft Investigators. First as a Director in The European Branch and later the forming of the UK Branch. An organisation he was immensely proud of, and his commitment, tenacity, and energy over the next few years really moved this organisation forward. He became President of the UK Branch of IAATI, and an International Director, playing an active role in many projects.

In 2000 in Vancouver, Canada, he was part of the UK delegation, who worked almost a marathon session through the night to finalise a draft constitution for the forming of a new UK Branch, for rationalisation by the Executive. At various seminars across the world, he and Ann, would not only engage with members but had friends for life, because of his purposeful conviviality, and enthusiasm for the organisation.


Just separating some of his achievements is difficult, but he took the Alliance Magazine, added his personal style of editorial, varied the content, and it went from being a backroom Photostat handout, to the quality of a Sunday Magazine supplement. No one in the history of IAATI has ever matched him for his ability to make contact with industry movers and shakers, and over the years, his introductions ensured that IAATI Conferences were well sponsored.

He later took on the role of Exhibitors Director for the conference, and photographs of him surrounded by trade stands at the prestigious National Vehicle Heritage Centre, show him enjoying the success of his mammoth efforts. He always had the same warmth, whether dealing with front line police officers and support staff, or the celebrities he had supporting the values of IAATI. He had the work life balance correct ensuring families stayed close and together. The family bought a house in the village of Lamagdelaine situated in the valley of the Lot, near Cahors in the south west region of France, as a second home in March 2000.

This house was last occupied by the mayor, and Alan was embraced by the community and encouraged to keep flying the mayoral flags outside the house. Warmly accepted and chided by his neighbours as the “British honorary Mayor!” This meant that his two daughters Alison and Andrea and their extended families and grandchildren were able to visit and have quality time together. Alan was a great family man happy to display his love and affection openly to his wife daughters and grand-children.

Alan’s true mission in life was bringing people together – his passion for technology and solutions, meant that he was often bringing innovators together with potential partners or new routes to market. He could see that a product designed for one purpose could easily be deployed to solve issues in other unrelated environments. A number of blue chip national and international companies would use Alan to introduce them to new prospects, and he enjoyed nothing better than seeing real progress being made in solving seemingly intractable issues.

In writing this obituary he continues to bring people together across the globe, each with their own memory of his vitality, the drive that he would bring to a meeting or project, the need to bring an innovative approach to problem solving, and his undefeatable vitality. He was a people person, through and through, always wanting to do the right thing for the right reason, extremely visionary and passionate in what he did.

He was a textbook example of someone who lived his life in a service environment – not taking but giving! If you want something done, ask a busy person and Alan was always busy. He had a thesaurus of expressions which will trigger our memories of him in the days months and years ahead always relevant, always meaningful, but never spiteful.
He truly lived his life, he gave his all, had high values, he did well – he was loved – his family adored him, and he, them - all great standards for us all to aspire to – he was just robbed of the longevity he wanted. He will be missed!