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Peter Salter 1948-2015

Peter joined Radio Guy's in 1989, with no previous broadcasting experience.  Being a child of the 1940s, his interests were predominantly music from the 60s and 70s.

Business Career:
Although originally from Exeter and educated at Hele’s Grammar School, Peter was a big city man at heart and always enjoyed living in London. His grandfather and father had long careers with the Exeter City Corporation tramways and bus companies, but Peter had much wider horizons. He had a long and successful career in HM Customs & Excise lasting from 1967 until 1988. He started in the Thames Valley, but the bright lights of the City soon lured him to London to work for many years at the Customs & Excise Headquarters in Kings Beam House, rising to the rank of Senior Executive Officer. During that period, he dealt with the full spectrum of duties and indirect taxes. From 1978 to 1985, he was at the City of London VAT office, where he specialised in finance and commodities. In a career spanning over 21 years with Customs & Excise, including a spell with the Investigations Division, Peter finally achieved the rank of a Surveyor (Outdoor Service). On leaving in 1988, he worked at the Union Bank of Switzerland and then at KPMG, again specialising in VAT, banking and finance. Peter worked with KPMG in Australia in 1999 to plan and introduce the new GST (their version of VAT), spending six months in Melbourne and Sydney. From late 1999, back in London and starting his consulting business whilst employed part time, Peter worked on a wide range of VAT assignments, notably Carousel frauds, banking and finance, land and buildings, and charities. He specialised in resolving disputes with HMRC and presented his own Tribunal and Crown Court cases, with notable success. Peter worked freelance for Hadleys & Co, St John Ambulance, Wilkins Kennedy and Avari and Associates until his final illness. To sum up, Peter accumulated a vast and unrivalled amount of knowledge and experience in all matters relating to UK indirect taxation. Although always modest about his achievements and skills, he proved a confident and reliable adviser both in his years of government employment and latterly to his many private clients. 

Charitable and Voluntary Interests:
Peter joined Radio Guy's in 1989 with no previous broadcasting experience. Being a child of the late 1940s, his musical interests were predominantly from the 60s and 70s, and he certainly enjoyed any upbeat ABBA number. Peter qualified as a City of London Guide, and had many other voluntary sector interests. These included work with the Institute of Advanced Motorists (personally coaching drivers to reach a police-assessed standard), acting as a volunteer steward at the Globe Theatre and the Spitalfields Festival productions, and acting as trustee, director and activist for Roadpeace from 2005 to 2014. He was a senior figure at the Brunel Tunnel Museum in Rotherhithe from 1993 to 1999 and had a lifelong interest in Victorian heritage. He was Treasurer and a leading figure in the Friends of Abney Park Cemetery for 20 years from the late 1970s and was the first chairman of the National Association of Cemetery Friends. He was a fine public speaker and gave frequent talks to various cemetery groups around London and the south-east. He led regular guided walks of Abney Park well into the 1990s and maintained his connection when the Friends of Abney Park Cemetery came into being. He was an enthusiastic Games Maker at the 2012 London Olympics and often stewarded at cycling races and rallies in the south-east. 

Personal Life:
Although he never married, Peter very much enjoyed the company of women and had several long term close friendships. When he wasn’t working or volunteering for any or all of the above, he enjoyed fine dining, fine wines including Sherry/Port, parties and social occasions, attending London and national public events and, above all, the company of friends. In later years he travelled widely to far off and exotic lands, and an unfulfilled ambition was to visit every country in the world. Since he took a step back from full time work, he had grown closer to his two nephews and their young families, visiting regularly and spending Christmas and other festivities with them. He showed great dignity and courage during his final illness and died in Guy’s Hospital on the 5th October 2015.

Biography written by Geoff Wood.