Unleash - Andy Howells - Hampshire Based Full Stack Web Developer

Fleet Management System

Helping the Hampshire & Isle of Wight NHS manage their pool car fleet without the manual headaches. A bespoke Laravel based system that handles everything from staff bookings and maintenance windows to driver validation, so they never lose track of a car.

Client

HIOW Healthcare

Scope

Bespoke management platform

Timeline

Phased rollout over a year

Status

Reliably online right now

Off the shelf limitations, bespoke solutions.

HIOW Healthcare's Fleet & Travel Team were refreshing their entire line-up of staff vehicles for important home visits. Their staff are based across multiple locations in Hampshire and needed a way to quickly book vehicles on short notice and manage their journeys.

The team managing the fleet needed a way to monitor access for hundreds of staff members, validate licences, permissions, and handle maintenance windows for vehicles with ease and elegance. One key quality of life feature was being able to bulk swap bookings between available vehicles to keep things moving effectively with just the click of a button.

They had a clear need: reduce administrative overhead and deliver for the staff.

02 / What got built

Phased delivery. Always Online.

I collaborated with the team to scope out the required system functionality, converting the existing process into a streamlined & accessible web application.

Staff Booking Portal

A clean interface where hundreds of staff members can secure a vehicle in seconds, filtered by their base of work and specific vehicle needs.

User Registration & Validation

Verifying access and checking licences is a key part of allowing staff to take out the vehicles, the system makes managing documentation easy for the team.

Fleet Control Centre

A centralised dashboard with clear status indicators and real-time monitoring. Admins can track every vehicle across the fleet and manage bookings as they happen.

Intelligent Swapping

If a car breaks down the team can quickly redistribute its upcoming bookings into available slots for other cars with the click of a button, no manual back and forth needed.

Multiple Location Logic

Intelligent scheduling that manages availability across multiple hospitals. It prevents double-bookings and ensures staff never turn up to an empty parking space.

Automated Notifications & Reporting

Automated alerts for swaps and cancellations, plus daily summary reports. The system keeps everyone informed while providing clear auditable trails for usage.

Rate-card based billing, maximum flexibility.

Rather than a rigid fixed-price contract, the project was handled on a flexible, hourly/daily rate model. This allowed the NHS team to pivot their priorities as new requirements emerged, ensuring the software evolved alongside their actual needs without friction.

By working on the system feature by feature, the Trust maintained full control over the roadmap. This approach meant focus could remain completely on building a robust solution that actually solved staff problems.

Old faithful, reliable, lots of mileage.

Laravel

Livewire

Tailwind

The underlying engine is stable, secure and not very exciting. That's a feature, not a flaw. The client needs the system to run without issue much longer than the cars, not impress turtle-neck wearing Silicon Valley conference attendees.

Choosing a web-based approach over a native app ensured that the system works just as well on a hospital desktop as it does on a staff member's smartphone. It meant one codebase, instant updates across the whole Trust, and a much faster route to production.

A more efficient fleet. Fewer headaches. Happier staff.

Admin time has dropped through the floor, especially when it comes to the complex job of swapping bookings and scheduling maintenance windows.

Booking notifications arrive in seconds, giving the staff peace of mind and stopping that "is my car actually booked?" anxiety.