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Time Date	System Updates
Update 1404 8 May 2026	Address Lookup Following some further developments and thanks to Graham at NNR for some advice, we now have some improved options to offer! There are two options for everyone, which apply to both address lookup in HOPS and in the retail systems: Option 1 HOPS has managed to become a 're-seller' of the address lookup service, which means we have been able to obtain much better volume rates. We will be able to re-sell this to railways at 3p per address (an improvement on the previously-advertised 5p). This is ready to go almost straight away, so please let us know if you would like to join this. I have updated this page so that you can see the estimated costs for your railway based on previous volumes: https://www.hops.org.uk/address_lookup_preview.php Option 2 Ideal Postcodes, the company that provides the address data, also has rates for charities with a turnover of less than £10m: * Up to 100 addresses = free * Up to 2000 addresses = £9/month * Up to 25000 addresses = £49/month. https://ideal-postcodes.co.uk/sector/charities We have heroically arranged it so that railways can set up their own account with Ideal Postcodes and obtain the charity rate directly with them. You will then provide us with your api key and HOPS will integrate with your account. You will settle your bill (if any) directly with Ideal Postcodes, and HOPS will charge railways £5 a month for the integration (same prices as it used to be). There is a 10% discount from Ideal Postcodes for "annual billing" - I'm not sure if this is in rear or in advance, they also have some concept of credits which expire after a year, so I'm not sure the annual option is necessarily better. But it might be. Railways that aren't charities are welcome to sign up directly with Ideal Postcodes if you want to, but of course you won't get the charity rate and probably won't get a rate as good as we can offer as a re-seller. If you wish to do this please sign up with Ideal Postcodes via their Charity sign-up form (link above). They will send you some other forms and terms to agree to, and you will also need to follow their instructions to sign up for a Royal Mail licence. We have just been through it all to set it up as a test and we were guided through it by a real person - it is advisable to tell them that you will be using a third-party developed service so you won't need all the technical assistance. Let us know when you're signed up an have an API key and we will put it in HOPS. You can also use this same account to integrate in other systems that you have if you wish, it won't affect the HOPS integration (it is advisable to use separate API keys for each integration). --- If anyone planning on Option 2 wants to use Option 1 in the short term before moving to Option 2 when that's set up that is fine to do. Please let me know. I have made you a lovely chart which shows the best (cheapest) option for different volumes of addresses. The tipping point is 467 addresses. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=3092328450962876 This doesn't consider the 10% for annual billing advantage, or the potential disadvantage of unused credits, so I think on balance it's honest. All the above relates to address search. Phone and email validator is available as well, but we'll negotiate about that later. Please let us know if you have any queries, if you wish to use the HOPS-re-sold service, or when you have your own API key you wish to use. Thank you Danny Scroggins.
Update 1232 8 July 2025	Drugs & Alcohol Screening | Medication Checking This is a reminder that HOPS offers Chemistry Services for Drugs & Alcohol Screening (post-incident for-cause, and random), and Medication Checking. Both services are provided by external specialist suppliers that conduct the same work for main-line railway companies. Railways can subscribe to either or both of these schemes. In both cases, contact details to call-up the services and a PIN number are provided to railways to make use of the services 24/7 without HOPS's involvement. A cost-saving is achieved by railways being part of this scheme rather than all contracting the service individually and all paying the full subscription fee to the supplier. (Regrettably we are only able to provide this service in the UK.) --- DRUGS & ALCOHOL SCREENING SERVICE Details of the Drugs & Alcohol Screening service can be found here: https://www.hops.org.uk/drugs This can be used for post-incident screening or random checks. This is a very useful statement to staff/volunteers of safety culture intent that is especially important for heritage railways. It also helps the railway's defence after an incident to be able to demonstrate that those involved were clear of drugs and alcohol. ** Annual retainer fee: £40 ** For-cause screening call-out (test up to four people): £250 ** Random screening call-out (test up to 16 people): £230 ** Results analysis, per person: £65 --- MEDICATION CHECKING SERVICE: Details of the Medication Checking Service can be found here: https://www.hops.org.uk/medication The medication checking services is useful where there is doubt about whether a member of staff/volunteer should conduct safety-critical work when taking medication. It is especially useful for occasions where a member of staff is taking more than one medication at the same time, where there might be impact that isn't apparent from the individual advice on the label for each medication. ** Annual retainer fee: £40 ** Per medication check: £16.50 --- Thank you to railways that are already subscribed. The annual retainer fee has increased this year, reflecting the increased cost of providing the service. This will be billed in the August invoice unless you let us know you don't wish to renew. The cost for a medication check has increased by 50p, and the drugs and alcohol screening fees are unchanged for this year. Thank you Danny Scroggins
Update 323 16 July 2016	A new features has been added at the bottom of the timetables editing page to advise users of the update (or addition). There is also the opportunity to write a message describing the change that you have made. The message will be sent to users with permission 232, so assign that permission to the groups who 'need to know' (ie, roster clerks, operations managers, etc). (I suggest you don't put your entire staff on the distribution list...!)
Update 232 20 October 2013	'Next Medical Exam Due' list pages have been added. These are in the Community menu for the whole railway (existing permission 144) and in the Departments menu for individual departments (existing permission 140). Thanks to Bo'ness & Kinneil Railway for requesting this.