Privacy Policy - Man With A Van Hornsey

This Privacy Policy explains how Man With A Van Hornsey collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data. It applies to all Man With A Van Hornsey customers in the area, including individuals who request quotations, book removals or transport services, receive customer support, or otherwise interact with us in connection with our services.

We are committed to handling personal data in a lawful, fair, and transparent way in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. This policy is written to help you understand what information we collect, why we collect it, how long we keep it, who may process it on our behalf, and what rights you have.

1. Personal Data We Collect

We collect only the information needed to provide and manage our services, improve our operations, and meet legal and business obligations. The types of personal data we may collect include:

• Identity data such as your name, title, and any business or household name associated with your booking.
• Contact data such as your address, email address, and telephone number.
• Booking and service data such as moving dates, collection and delivery locations, inventory details, access information, special handling needs, and service preferences.
• Payment data such as billing details, transaction references, and payment status. We do not intentionally store full card details where payment is handled by a third-party provider.
• Communication data such as messages, calls, emails, complaint details, and records of customer service interactions.
• Technical data such as limited information generated when you contact us electronically, including device or browser details if relevant to security and service functionality.
• Usage and operational data such as job records, scheduling notes, route planning information, and service completion records.

We may also receive data from third parties where necessary, such as referral partners, payment providers, or subcontracted service providers involved in delivering your booking.

2. How We Use Personal Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

• to provide quotations and manage bookings;
• to arrange, deliver, and complete moving and transport services;
• to communicate with customers about schedules, service changes, and service-related issues;
• to process payments, refunds, and accounting records;
• to handle complaints, claims, and disputes;
• to maintain records for business administration and legal compliance;
• to improve our services, customer experience, planning, and operational efficiency;
• to protect against fraud, misuse, or unlawful activity; and
• to meet tax, regulatory, insurance, and other legal obligations.

We will not use your personal data for purposes that are incompatible with the reasons it was collected, unless we have a valid legal basis to do so.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

We process personal data only where we have a lawful basis under data protection law. The main lawful bases we rely on are:

Contract

We process data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes providing quotes at your request, arranging your booking, completing the service, and taking payment.

Legal Obligation

We may process personal data where necessary to comply with legal and regulatory duties, such as tax record keeping, accounting requirements, insurance obligations, and responding to lawful requests from authorities.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data where it is necessary for our legitimate interests and where those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. This may include managing our business, improving services, maintaining records, preventing fraud, resolving disputes, and ensuring the security of our operations.

Consent

In limited cases, we may rely on your consent, for example where it is required for specific optional communications or certain non-essential uses of data. Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

We do not rely on consent where another lawful basis is more appropriate, such as contract, legal obligation, or legitimate interests.

4. Sharing and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties who act as processors on our behalf or, in some cases, independent controllers. These third parties are only allowed to process data for specified purposes and must take appropriate security measures.

• Payment processors to handle card or electronic payments securely.
• Accounting and bookkeeping providers to manage invoices, receipts, and financial records.
• IT and hosting providers that support our systems, storage, communication tools, and security.
• Scheduling or customer management providers that assist with administration and booking management.
• Subcontracted service providers where needed to help perform a booking or delivery.
• Insurance providers, legal advisers, and dispute resolution services where needed for claims or legal matters.
• Public authorities where disclosure is required by law or necessary to protect rights, property, or safety.

Where processors are used, we require them to process personal data only on our instructions and to maintain appropriate confidentiality and security standards. We do not sell personal data.

5. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including any legal, accounting, tax, insurance, or reporting requirements.

Retention periods depend on the type of record and the reason for holding it. For example:

• booking and service records may be retained for operational and dispute-handling purposes;
• invoices and payment records may be retained to meet accounting and tax obligations;
• communication records may be retained to manage customer service matters and complaints;
• claim-related records may be retained for the duration needed to resolve the claim and any related legal limitation period.

When personal data is no longer required, we will delete it securely or anonymise it so that it can no longer identify you.

6. Data Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data from unauthorised access, accidental loss, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff confidentiality obligations, and limiting access to those who need the data for their role.

Although we take reasonable steps to safeguard data, no system is completely secure. We encourage customers to share information only through appropriate channels and to notify us promptly if they believe data has been misused or compromised.

7. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you may have the following rights in relation to your personal data:

• Right of access - to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Right to rectification - to ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
• Right to erasure - to request deletion of your data in certain circumstances.
• Right to restriction - to ask us to limit how we use your data in certain cases.
• Right to object - to object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing where applicable.
• Right to data portability - to request transfer of certain data in a structured, commonly used format where technically feasible.
• Right to withdraw consent - where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

You may also have the right to challenge decisions made solely by automated means if such processing is ever used. We do not routinely make such decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects.

If you wish to exercise any of your rights, we may need to verify your identity before responding. We will respond within the timeframe required by law unless an extension is permitted.

8. International Transfers

Where personal data is transferred outside the UK, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place so that your information remains protected to a standard consistent with applicable data protection law.

9. Children

Our services are intended for adults and business customers arranging transport or moving services. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children except where it is incidentally provided by an adult customer as part of a booking or service arrangement.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal requirements, or data handling practices. The most current version will apply from the date it takes effect. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically so they remain informed about how their data is handled.

11. Summary of Key Points

In summary: we collect only the data needed to provide and manage services, we process it on lawful bases such as contract, legal obligation, legitimate interests, and consent where appropriate, we retain it only as long as necessary, and we use trusted processors under written instructions and safeguards. Customers have rights over their personal data and may contact us to exercise them.

This policy applies to every customer of Man With A Van Hornsey within the area served by our business.