Where it all began.

The Honest Truth was born out of a tragic road traffic collision in South Devon in 2009 where three young people lost their lives. 

Following this a group of committed individuals from the blue light services, local authority and approved driving Instructors (ADIs) formed a partnership to find a way to minimise the chances of this happening again. Out of this partnership the Honest Truth (THT) was born. The core aim of THT was to harness the power of the ADI / Learner relationship and provide ADIs with meaningful road safety information that they could deliver seamlessly as part of a course of driving lessons giving new drivers the life skills they will need long after they pass their test.

By working with road safety and behaviour change experts, ‘ten truths’ were developed, covering the fatal five and an additional five topic areas that we felt were of vital importance to new drivers.

At its height in 2013 and 2014 THT was working with 19 road safety partnerships, the military and had approximately 2000 ADIs right across the UK delivering THT to approximately 80,000 new drivers a year.

In 2019 the decision was made that THT would sit as part of the FirstCar portfolio given the proven track record that FirstCar has in the road safety and young driver world. When they took THT on, FirstCar invested in a redesign of the campaign assets and lengthy consultations with behavioural scientists to create a robust delivery structure. However, real-world deployment of the paper resources was seen as in need of bringing in to the digital world. We listened to ADIs and learners and as a result have introduced an ADI app and a fully digital process.

Introducing our Co-Founder, Olly Tayler QPM.

Olly served for 30 years with the Devon and Cornwall Police working in uniformed operations for his entire career including front line response, neighbourhood policing, specialist operations and project work to name but a few.

Olly worked as a Public Order Officer for his entire career including being qualified in a number of specialist areas such Evidence Gatherer, Public Order Instructor, Public Order, Public Safety Advisor (POPSA) and more recently as a Public Order Commander.  As a POPSA he provided advice at Bronze, Silver and Gold Command levels on countless operations including football matches, protests and national large-scale events such as the G7 summit in Cornwall, the COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow and the recent Spaceport launch in Newquay.  He also deployed as a Mutual Aid Liaison Officer (MALO) for the Queens funeral in London having joint responsibility for the discipline and welfare for approximately 400 officers from across the South West Region. 

Olly spent approximately 13 years working in Roads Policing serving as a Constable, Sergeant and Temporary Inspector.  Olly also held the portfolio for young drivers and road safety within Devon and Cornwall during his time on Roads Policing.  During this time, he co-founded The Honest Truth and led the multi-agency partnership on this for approximately five years.  He also worked with partners on other young driver road safety initiatives across the South West.

As a Lead Investigating Officer for fatal and serious injury collisions Olly has led numerous investigations from initial scene attendance through to Coroners Inquests and Magistrates / Crown Court Trails. 

Whilst in Roads Policing Olly was an advanced driver and advanced motorcyclist, trained in Tactical Pursuit and Containment (TPAC) and a pursuit tactics advisor.  As an advanced motorcyclist he was also involved in the delivery of road safety to those on two wheels. 

Olly finished his career in mid-2023 as a Patrol Inspector in South Devon, managing a team of approximately 34 officers working from seven Patrol Hubs across approximately 800 square miles of South Devon.

During his career Olly received no less than nine commendations including two Chief Constables Commendations and an Assistant Chief Constables Commendation. These commendations were for a wide variety of work he undertook but included;

  • Courage, Professionalism and Leadership

  • Outstanding Bravery

  • Professionalism and Investigative Skills

  • Initiative, Dedication and Commitment

  • Innovative and Consistent Good Work

  • Outstanding Leadership, Professionalism and Dedication

  • Longstanding Professionalism and Commitment in a Specialist Voluntary Role

If this wasn’t enough Olly was recognised in the 2014 New Years Honours List and was awarded the prestigious Queens Police Medal (QPM) for distinguished and exceptional service and when presented his medal by Queen Elizabeth 2nd in 2015 she made a point of asking him about his work in road safety and with young drivers. The QPM is the highest award you can receive as a serving Police Officer and is only awarded nationally a handful of times each year. Here at The Honest Truth we are immensely proud of his achievement especially as it was awarded amongst other things to recognise his work in road safety for young drivers.