A SELF-EMPLOYED software developer who lost his job during the pandemic has created an online supermarket delivery slot service.

The service allows people to sign up for notifications when a delivery slot becomes available.

Father-of-one, Matt Gregory, 47, from Chineham, has spent 13 weeks shielding during lockdown as his partner has been living with a chronic illness for the past 15 years.

Matt told the Gazette: "None of us have been anywhere else during the pandemic.

"No shops, or anywhere. We have relied on deliveries for everything we need.

"Like everyone else, we were really struggling to get supermarket delivery slots.

"So much that we would wake in the night in the hope of getting a supermarket delivery slot as they were so difficult to find and they are released at random times by the supermarkets."

The 47-year-old said he normally works on short term contracts with companies usually within 50 miles of where he lives in Chineham.

Three weeks into his contract with his firm in April 2020, his company made a decision to terminate all non-essential contractors.

Around 20 to 30 contractors like Matt had their contracts terminated with one week's notice.

"I wrote an app that runs all day and night on my server at home.

"I then upgraded the app so that it automatically sends email notifications when it finds a slot," he said. 

You can access the online supermarket delivery slot service at https://SupermarketDeliverySlot.co.uk.