Privacy Policy - Man With A Van Stratford

This Privacy Policy explains how Man With A Van Stratford collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data. It applies to all Man With A Van Stratford customers in the area, including anyone who requests a quote, makes a booking, receives a moving or transport service, or otherwise interacts with us in connection with our services. We are committed to handling personal information in a lawful, fair, and transparent manner in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

By using our services, you acknowledge that your personal data may be processed as described in this policy. We only collect information that is necessary for the provision, administration, and improvement of our services, and we apply appropriate safeguards to protect it.

1. Data Collection

We may collect and process different types of personal data depending on how you interact with us. The information we collect may include:

Identity details: name, title, and any relevant business or household contact information.
Contact details: telephone number, email address, and service address.
Service information: booking details, delivery or collection instructions, move size, special handling requirements, and service preferences.
Payment information: billing details, payment status, and transaction records. We do not store unnecessary card details where payment is processed by a third party.
Communication records: emails, messages, call notes, complaints, and customer service correspondence.
Technical data: limited information such as device type, browser type, and basic usage data if collected through our digital systems.
Legal and compliance data: records needed for tax, insurance, regulatory, or dispute-resolution purposes.

We may also collect information from third parties where needed to deliver services, such as payment processors, subcontracted service providers, or public sources that help us verify information. Where special category data is accidentally provided to us, we will only process it where there is a lawful basis and appropriate legal justification.

2. How We Use Your Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

to provide quotes, confirm bookings, and carry out transport or moving services;
to communicate with you about your booking, scheduling, access, or service changes;
to process payments, refunds, and account-related matters;
to manage customer service requests, complaints, and disputes;
to maintain records for accounting, tax, insurance, and legal compliance;
to improve our services, operations, and customer experience;
to prevent fraud, misuse, or unlawful activity;
to meet our contractual and legal obligations.

We only use your personal data for the purposes for which it was collected, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another compatible purpose. If we need to use your data for an unrelated purpose, we will explain the legal basis before doing so.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under data protection law, we must have a lawful basis to process your personal data. Depending on the circumstances, we rely on one or more of the following bases:

Contract

We process personal data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes preparing quotations, confirming services, arranging collections or deliveries, and completing agreed jobs.

Legal Obligation

We may process information to comply with legal obligations, including accounting requirements, tax record keeping, insurance obligations, and responses to lawful requests from authorities.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests and where those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. This may include managing customer relationships, improving operations, keeping accurate records, preventing fraud, and handling service issues. We always consider the impact of such processing and apply safeguards where appropriate.

Consent

In limited situations, we may rely on your consent, for example where it is required for certain optional communications or processing activities. Where consent is used, you have the right to withdraw it at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

4. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, and in accordance with legal, accounting, and operational requirements. Retention periods may vary depending on the type of data and the reason for processing.

Booking and service records: retained for a reasonable period to manage follow-up queries, disputes, and service history.
Financial and accounting records: retained for the period required by tax and accounting law.
Customer communications: retained for as long as needed to resolve issues, improve service, or support legitimate business administration.
Legal claims and compliance records: retained where necessary to establish, exercise, or defend legal rights.

When personal data is no longer required, we will delete it securely or anonymise it so that it can no longer identify you. In some cases, we may retain limited data for backup, audit, or legal purposes, but only where necessary and proportionate.

5. Processors and Third Parties

We may share personal data with trusted third parties who act as processors or independent controllers, depending on the service they provide. These parties may include:

payment service providers for secure transaction processing;
accounting or bookkeeping providers for financial administration;
IT, data storage, and system support providers;
subcontracted workers or service partners assisting with deliveries, removals, or transport tasks;
insurance providers, legal advisers, or dispute resolution services where necessary;
regulatory or law enforcement bodies when required by law.

Where a third party acts as a processor, they may only process your data on our instructions and must keep it secure and confidential. We require appropriate contracts and data protection safeguards in place before any sharing occurs. Where a third party acts as an independent controller, they will be responsible for their own data handling practices, and we encourage you to review their privacy information where relevant.

We do not sell your personal data. Any sharing is limited to what is necessary for service delivery, compliance, or legitimate business operations.

6. International Transfers

If personal data is transferred outside the United Kingdom, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect it. These safeguards may include adequacy regulations, standard contractual clauses, or equivalent legal mechanisms. We take reasonable steps to ensure that transferred data remains protected to a standard consistent with UK data protection law.

7. Security of Personal Data

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, loss, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, confidentiality obligations, and limited access to information on a need-to-know basis. While no system can be guaranteed completely secure, we take data protection seriously and regularly review our practices to reduce risk.

8. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you have several rights in relation to your personal data. These rights may apply depending on the legal basis for processing and the context of your request.

Right of access: you can ask for a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification: you can ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
Right to erasure: in some circumstances, you can ask us to delete your data.
Right to restriction: you can ask us to limit how we use your data in certain situations.
Right to object: you can object to processing based on legitimate interests, and to direct marketing where applicable.
Right to data portability: you can request certain data in a structured, commonly used format where legally applicable.
Right to withdraw consent: where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

You also have the right to raise concerns with the relevant data protection authority if you believe your data has been handled unlawfully. We encourage you to contact us first so we can try to resolve any issues promptly and fairly.

9. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults arranging moving or transport services. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children except where it is necessary and provided by an adult customer in connection with service arrangements. If we become aware that we have collected such information inappropriately, we will take steps to delete it where required.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in legal requirements, operational practices, or service arrangements. Any updates will take effect when published, and the most current version will apply to ongoing use of our services. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically so they remain informed about how personal data is handled.

Summary principle: We only process personal data when necessary, keep it secure, retain it for no longer than needed, and respect your rights under data protection law.

Last updated: this policy applies to all Man With A Van Stratford customers in the area.

By using our services, you confirm that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy.