What makes sample runs different?
Pathology and specimen runs are scheduled, repetitive and time-sensitive. A driver works through a list of GP surgeries and clinics, collecting sealed bags from a box or a receptionist, and takes them to a hospital lab or a private laboratory before a cut-off. Nobody signs anything glamorous; the value is in the timings.
When a lab reports a sample as too old to process, or a surgery says a bag was never collected, the courier needs to answer with facts: the driver was at the surgery from 11:02 to 11:06, left, and handed four bags to the lab reception at 11:48. Track That Ride records exactly that kind of timeline without the driver writing anything down.
Which times and records matter?
- Arrival and departure at each collection point. Track That Ride detects these from the driver’s location using a 100-metre zone around the pickup address, and writes them to the delivery’s timeline as system events with the time.
- The route between stops. The driver’s path is kept for 180 days, with gaps in the GPS signal shown rather than hidden.
- The handover at the lab. The name of the person who took the samples, photos of the bags and where they were left, and the GPS position.
- Exceptions. A surgery closed, no samples ready, lab reception shut: recorded as a failed attempt with a reason and a time.
The audit view adds the totals that matter in a dispute: time waiting at the pickup, time at the drop before the handover, total duration and distance. It exports as a PDF dispute pack, and every view or export of it is itself logged.
Packaging and the rules for carrying samples
Diagnostic specimens are usually classed as UN3373, Biological Substance, Category B. GOV.UK guidance published in 2020 for testing laboratories sets out the UK government’s reading of ADR Packing Instruction P650 for carrying them by road: triple packaging, absorbent material for liquids, and a diamond-shaped UN3373 mark with the proper shipping name on the outer package. The same guidance says classification remains the consignor’s responsibility, and that a consignment packed to P650 is not subject to the other ADR requirements.
Track That Ride does not check any of that. What it can do is make the condition of each package visible: require a photo at the handover, and have the driver note anything wrong with a bag. If packaging is in doubt, ask your client and read the official guidance listed below; do not rely on software or on this page.
Live arrival times for the lab
Lab reception teams plan their batches around courier arrivals. Send them the tracking link for each run and they see the driver on the map, an arrival time worked out when the run starts, and an update when the driver reaches the building. If the arrival time moves by more than ten minutes, the page shows the new one.
Running a round
Each collection is its own delivery, from the surgery to the lab, assigned to the round’s driver. That keeps a separate, provable record for every surgery, which is what you need when one surgery queries one collection. In Settings you choose how many deliveries a driver can have in progress at once, so a driver can carry several surgeries’ bags together. Track That Ride does not plan the order of stops; the driver follows the round you give them.
If your booking system already holds the round, create the deliveries through the API each morning and listen for the
delivery.completed webhook, which carries the times the driver arrived at pickup and drop-off.
Not a substitute for your own procedures
Track That Ride helps you keep a timestamped record of each collection and handover. It does not monitor temperature, does not make your service compliant with any regulation, and does not replace the procedures your client sets for sample transport.