Help Centre

Everything you need to run ShiftsPod — for the office and for drivers. Can't find it? Email [email protected] — we reply the same working day.

1. Getting started (office)

When your account is created you get a company code, an admin login and your own dashboard at admin.shiftspod.com. Setup takes well under a day:

1. Add your fleet — Vehicles and Trailers pages: registration, and (optionally) MOT, tax, insurance, service and tacho dates so expiry reminders start working.
2. Add your drivers — Drivers page: name and a username/password each. Seats adjust automatically, you only pay for active drivers.
3. Check Settings — alert recipients (comma-separated emails), the waiting-time threshold, maximum shift hours, and which walk-around items your drivers must check.

2. Installing the driver app

Drivers use their own phones — there is no hardware to buy.

• Android: in the admin dashboard open Settings → Android APK. Scan the QR code with the driver's phone and install. Updates are announced inside the app.
• iPhone: drivers open the driver web app in Safari and tap Share → Add to Home Screen. It installs like an app and works offline.

Drivers sign in with your company code plus their username and password.

3. A driver's first shift

The morning check-in is a short guided wizard:

1. Pick the vehicle, enter mileage and fuel.
2. Enter the route number — if the office has pre-planned it, all stops load automatically. Otherwise the driver adds their first stop and builds the round as they go.
3. Complete the vehicle walk-around (and the trailer walk-around if one is coupled), sign, and set off.

From that moment the office sees the truck on the live map, and every arrival, delivery and departure is recorded automatically.

4. Walk-around checks & defects

The checklists follow the DVSA daily walk-around: lights, tyres, brakes, steering, fluids, cab, tachograph, documents and safety equipment for the vehicle; coupling, air lines, load security and landing legs for the trailer. You choose which items apply in Settings, and can add your own custom items.

• Failing an item asks the driver for a note and a photo — both land on the defect register instantly.
• Dangerous defects (brakes, steering, tyres, coupling and similar) put the departure on hold: the app tells the driver not to drive, and the office gets an urgent email at the same moment. A manager reviews the defect — with the photo — and either authorises departure or stands the vehicle down. The decision is recorded against their name.
• Unresolved defects follow the vehicle: the next driver sees them at check-in and can confirm them fixed.
• Every check records how long it took and whether "mark all" was used — so a 40-second checklist stands out from a proper six-minute inspection.

5. The defect register

The Defects page shows every reported fault across the fleet — vehicles and trailers together, dangerous first, oldest first, with the driver's photos. Resolving a defect asks for a rectification note ("brake line replaced — workshop job #1042"), and the defect-plus-rectification history prints as part of the compliance pack — exactly what DVSA expects you to keep for 15 months.

VOR (vehicle off road): on the Vehicles page, "Set VOR" stands a vehicle down with a reason — it disappears from the drivers' check-in list and no shift can start in it until you mark it back in service.

6. Live tracking

The Fleet Map and Dashboard show every active truck: where it is, which stop it's on, what's next, and its ETA. Colour tells you what needs attention — waiting too long at a site, running late against an ETA, or a reported delay. Drivers report a delay with a reason and a new ETA in one tap; it appears on the dashboard and in your inbox instantly.

7. Routes & manifests

• Create routes in the office — Routes page: add stops with postcodes, booking times and your own references (client ref, booking ref, collection ref). Drag stops to reorder them.
• Duplicate a route — one click copies a route with all its stops under a new number and date. Runs the same round every day? Thirty seconds, not ten minutes.
• Assign it to a driver — pick a driver in the route's dropdown and their check-in shows "Today's route" — one tap, no typing route numbers from memory.
• Import from a spreadsheet — upload a CSV and the stops are created for you.
• Push from your own system — a REST API lets your TMS or back-office create and update routes automatically.
• Or let the driver build the round — drivers can add stops on the go, including offline.

8. Proof of delivery

At each stop the driver takes photos and, where you require it, captures a signature with the receiver's name. Everything uploads automatically with a timestamp and is searchable in the POD Browser by route, driver, date or stop — so a "we never received it" call is settled in seconds. PODs are kept for two years by default (configurable per company).

9. Alerts & the daily report

Instant emails (each can be switched off in Settings → Notifications): driver waiting too long at a site, delay reported, shift abandoned, shift auto-closed, dangerous defect hold, and fleet document expiry at 60/30/14/7/1 days. A daily report (or weekly/monthly if you prefer) summarises shifts, delays, walk-around checks and defects. A webhook is available if you want alerts in your own systems.

10. Working offline

Dead zones don't stop the day. The driver app keeps working without signal — starting a shift at a depot with no coverage, walk-around checks, arrivals, departures, added stops and POD photos are all saved on the phone and sync automatically the moment coverage returns, with the original times preserved. The only deliberate exception: a dangerous defect still blocks departure even offline — the report reaches the office at first signal.

11. Billing & seats

• £14 per active driver / month, or £140 per driver / year (two months free). Unlimited office users included.
• Seats adjust automatically — add a driver mid-month and you pay pro-rata; stand one down and you're credited the same way.
• 14-day free trial, full product, no card required. Rolling subscription — cancel anytime and keep access to the end of the paid period.