Quartix has equipped 85 of the Oldham property management company's vehicles with its award-winning tracking unit. And, in a separate development, FCHO has commissioned Quartix to connect 17 of its older short-term hire vehicles to Quartix Pay As You Go, the flexible direct-rental tracking solution.

As a result, the firm can identify where its vehicles are on-screen round the clock and send the nearest and most appropriately skilled operatives to a job, resulting in improved customer service and performance.

One of FCHO's biggest problems – the amount of operatives' down-time – has also been resolved, as the system has the capability to ring-fence. For example, it can ring-fence a particular depot and produce information on how long different operatives spend in the depot. This means that the firm can identify every single depot where people are based and the amount of end time each operative has.

Although FCHO's fleet numbers more than 100 – including 7.5-ton vehicles, small and medium-size vans, 3.5-ton flatbeds and box vans – the number of authorised drivers vastly exceeds this figure. To identify who is driving at any given time, each of the tracking systems is equipped with a driver identification unit and each driver has been issued with an ID tag.

David Thomas, FCHO repairs support manager, said: 'Basically we don't have enough vehicles for every single operative. Sometimes a person will swap vehicles or if someone is on leave someone will use their vehicle. If any damage is done, or something like that, we can now easily identify the driver.'

Thomas said the investment is paying dividends, and sometimes in unexpected ways. 'I recently had a complaint from the public about one of my drivers. Fortunately, I was able to quickly identify both the vehicle and the driver involved in the alleged incident,' he commented.