Privacy Policy - Man With Van Charlton

This Privacy Policy explains how Man With Van Charlton collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data when providing removal and van services. It applies to all Man With Van Charlton customers in the area, including anyone who requests a quote, books a service, communicates with us, or otherwise uses our moving services.

We are committed to handling personal data in a lawful, fair, and transparent way in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. This policy is intended 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 over your data.

1. Personal Data We Collect

We collect only the information necessary to provide and manage our services. Depending on your interaction with us, this may include:

Identity details such as your name, title, and any relevant business name.
Contact details including telephone number, email address, and moving address information.
Service details such as property access information, moving dates, items to be moved, and any special handling requirements.
Billing information such as invoice details, payment records, and transaction references.
Communication records including emails, messages, quote requests, complaints, and service updates.
Technical data if you contact us through digital channels, such as basic device or usage information collected for security and service improvement.
Optional information you choose to share, such as parking restrictions, access notes, or vulnerable item details.

We do not intentionally collect special category data unless it is strictly necessary and you provide it to us voluntarily, for example where a service requirement makes it relevant. In such cases, we will only process it where permitted by law and with appropriate safeguards.

2. How We Use Your Data

We use your personal data to deliver our services effectively and responsibly. Typical uses include:

Providing quotes and confirming bookings.
Planning, carrying out, and managing moving services.
Contacting you about arrival times, changes, or service issues.
Issuing invoices, managing payments, and maintaining accounts.
Handling complaints, claims, and customer support requests.
Keeping internal records and improving service quality.
Meeting legal, tax, accounting, and insurance obligations.
Preventing fraud, misuse, or unlawful activity.

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 and the law allows us to do so.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under data protection law, we must have a lawful basis for each processing activity. We rely on the following lawful bases where appropriate:

Contract

We process your data when it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes providing quotes at your request, arranging your move, processing payment, and managing related service communications.

Legal Obligation

We may process and retain certain data to comply with legal duties, including tax, accounting, insurance, and regulatory obligations.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data where it is in our legitimate interests to do so and where your interests and rights do not override those interests. This may include managing customer records, improving our services, preventing fraud, defending legal claims, and ensuring business administration. We always consider the impact on your privacy before relying on this basis.

Consent

Where required, we rely on your consent. For example, if we need to process optional information that is not necessary for the contract or if we use your data for a specific activity that requires consent, we will ask for it clearly. You can withdraw consent at any time where consent is the legal basis, without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

4. Sharing Your Personal Data

We do not sell your personal data. However, we may share it with trusted third parties when necessary to provide our services or comply with the law. These may include:

Payment providers to process transactions securely.
Accountants and tax advisers for financial administration and compliance.
Insurance providers and claims handlers where a claim or incident needs to be addressed.
IT and storage providers who support our business systems, data backup, or secure communications.
Professional advisers such as legal advisers where needed to protect our rights or defend claims.
Authorities or regulators where disclosure is required by law.

Any third party that processes personal data on our behalf must do so under a written contract and only according to our instructions. They must take appropriate security measures and may not use your data for their own purposes.

5. Processors

Where we use external service providers to process personal data for us, they act as data processors. Examples of processor activities may include:

Hosting secure business records.
Sending service emails or invoices.
Backing up records and maintaining system security.
Managing customer administration software.

We choose processors carefully and require them to meet appropriate data protection and confidentiality standards. We remain responsible for ensuring that any processor handling personal data on our behalf does so lawfully and securely.

6. International Transfers

Where any service provider stores or accesses data outside the UK, we will take steps to ensure appropriate safeguards are in place. These may include approved contractual clauses or other legally recognised transfer mechanisms. We only allow such transfers where they are necessary and compliant with data protection law.

7. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including to satisfy legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. Retention periods depend on the type of information and the reason it was collected.

Quotation and enquiry data is usually retained for a reasonable period after the enquiry, unless a longer period is required due to a booking or claim.
Contract and service records are retained for the duration of the service relationship and for a further period where needed for legal protection or compliance.
Financial and tax records are kept for the period required by law.
Complaint and claims records may be retained longer where necessary to resolve disputes or defend legal claims.

When data is no longer required, we will securely delete, anonymise, or archive it in line with our retention practices.

8. Data Security

We use reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal data from unauthorised access, loss, misuse, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff confidentiality obligations, and limited access to records on a need-to-know basis.

While no system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, we take data protection seriously and regularly review our controls to reduce risk.

9. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you have important rights in relation to your personal data. These include:

Right of access – you can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification – you can ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
Right to erasure – you can ask us to delete data in certain circumstances.
Right to restriction – you can ask us to limit how we use your data in certain cases.
Right to object – you can object to processing based on legitimate interests, subject to legal exceptions.
Right to data portability – you can request that certain information be provided 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.

These rights are not absolute and may be subject to conditions or exemptions under applicable law. If you wish to exercise any of these rights, we will respond in line with our legal obligations.

10. Complaints and Questions

If you have concerns about how your personal data is handled, you may raise them with us so that we can review and address the issue. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you believe your data protection rights have been infringed.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal requirements, or operational practices. Any revised version will apply from the date it is published and will continue to apply to all Man With Van Charlton customers in the area.

Last reviewed: This policy should be read carefully alongside any service terms that apply to your booking. By using our services, you acknowledge that your personal data may be processed as described above, in accordance with applicable data protection law.