Industry mourns two sad losses

18th January 2024

The sad death on Wednesday (17 Jan) of Bob Linwood (60) has been announced.

Bob’s dedication to bringing young talent into our industry was unparalleled.

A man of the people, devoted to family and charitable causes, especially in memory of his son Ethan.

In November 2015 Bob received the ABP Outstanding Contribution award at the Night of Knights evening for his work with Autoraise – see picture below.

Bob had been in our industry for over 43 years and was known by many, beginning in 1980 with SIA where he worked for 11 years followed in 1991 by R-M and then Akzo Nobel.

He then joined NIBS where he was Business Development Director for 13 years (1997 – 2010), followed by vrve and Create Motion.

In 2015 Bob became involved with the fledgling Autoraise which at the time was “comprised of a small group of south-east based repairers – independents and regional groups – who came together in collaboration with Barking & Dagenham College to look at the way the industry works with the current apprentice scheme.”

In October 2016 he was so proud to announce on stage at the ABP Convention that AutoRaise had been accepted by the Charity Commission as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO).

He was CEO of the Autoraise charity until May 2021 and then formed his own business Apprenticeship Central Ltd with his wife Morage, “helping employers with their apprentice recruitment and retention needs”.

Bob will be greatly missed by all who knew him.

The sad death on Monday (15 Jan) of Dane Loosley (70) has been announced.

Dane was taken ill in the early hours of Monday morning and was taken into hospital.

A brain scan revealed he had suffered a massive stroke that was inoperable.

Sadly, he never regained consciousness and there was nothing that the doctors could do for him.

He passed away peacefully on Monday evening surrounded by family.

Dane had been a non-executive director of ABP since July 2018.

David Cresswell, ABP Chairman:

“This is such very sad news and a great personal loss to me.

Dane was a great man – kind and thoughtful. A real gentlemen who always had the intellect and time to see and work through both sides of an argument or a problem.

Dane was well known by many people in the industry from his many years with Cornhill, then Allianz as an engineer and then becoming chief engineer, which is where I first met him around 1990 when I was deputy med of Audatex and they began testing the system.

He was Divisional Claims Manager (Supply & Expert Management) when he left Allianz in September 2012 and joined Audatex UK as Director of Strategy and Innovation.

After leaving Audatex in June 2014 he formed – DL Business Consultancy Limited – and enjoyed 3 years as a Mentor for Startupbootcamp FinTech, working with Start-up Companies & Sponsorswhere he assisted them through accelerated development and growth programmes.

I will greatly miss Dane.”