Man With a Van Northwood Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Man With a Van Northwood collects, uses, stores, and protects personal data for all customers in the Northwood area and the surrounding locality. It also explains your rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.

By requesting a quote, making a booking, or using any of our services, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy.

1. Who We Are and Scope of this Policy

Man With a Van Northwood is a local removals and transport service provider operating in Northwood and nearby areas. This Privacy Policy applies to all customers and prospective customers in our service area, including individuals, households, and business contacts who interact with us to obtain our services.

We act as the data controller for the personal data we collect and process in connection with providing our services.

2. Types of Personal Data We Collect

We collect only the personal data that we need in order to provide our services, manage our business, and meet legal obligations. The types of personal data we may collect include:

Identity and contact details: name, address, collection and delivery addresses, billing address, and similar contact details you provide to us.

Booking and service information: details of your requested move or transport service, such as dates and times, type and quantity of items to be moved, access information for properties, and any special instructions.

Communication data: information contained in messages you send to us, such as enquiries, feedback, or complaint details, whether provided by phone, text, messaging apps, online forms, or other channels.

Payment related data: limited information required to process payments and manage invoices, such as payment references and transaction records. We do not store full payment card details if payments are processed through third party payment providers.

Technical and usage data: basic technical information where applicable, such as the device or method you use to contact us, and records of when you contacted us. We do not intentionally collect more data than we need for our stated purposes.

3. How We Collect Your Data

We collect personal data directly from you when you:

Request a quote or make a booking for our services.

Contact us by phone, text, messaging app, or online enquiry form.

Provide information at the collection or delivery address on the day of the service.

Make a payment or request an invoice.

Occasionally, we may receive your details from a third party who is arranging a move on your behalf, such as a family member, friend, landlord, or business partner. In such cases, we treat your personal data in the same way as if you had provided it directly.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing Personal Data

We process your personal data under one or more of the following lawful bases:

Contract: to take steps at your request before entering into a contract, and to perform our contract with you. This includes providing quotations, confirming bookings, delivering our services, and handling post service queries.

Legitimate interests: to operate and improve our business where our interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. This includes managing schedules, keeping basic business records, improving our services, and protecting our legal rights.

Legal obligation: to comply with legal and regulatory requirements, including tax and accounting rules, and responding to lawful requests from authorities.

Consent: in limited cases, where the law requires your consent for a specific activity. Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time, and we will stop that specific processing unless another lawful basis applies.

5. How We Use Your Personal Data

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

To provide quotations and respond to your enquiries.

To manage and deliver bookings for collection, transport, and delivery of your items.

To communicate with you about your booking, including confirmations, changes, and any issues that arise.

To manage payments, invoices, and basic accounting records.

To maintain service quality, handle complaints, and manage disputes.

To plan routes, allocate vehicles and staff, and optimise our operations.

To meet our legal and regulatory obligations, including record keeping.

6. Data Sharing and Use of Processors

We do not sell your personal data. We may share your personal data only where necessary and in line with data protection law, including:

With service providers acting as data processors, who assist us with activities such as payment processing, accounting, scheduling, or secure data storage. These providers are only permitted to process personal data in accordance with our instructions and for the specified purposes.

With professional advisers, such as accountants or legal advisers, where reasonably necessary to manage our business and protect our legal interests.

With law enforcement agencies, regulators, or other authorities where required by law or to protect our rights, property, or safety, or the rights, property, or safety of others.

Where we use data processors, we ensure that appropriate contractual and technical safeguards are in place to protect your personal data.

7. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as it is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including for the purpose of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

In general, we keep:

Booking and service records for a period that allows us to manage queries, handle complaints, and comply with tax and accounting obligations.

Communication records for a reasonable period after your last interaction with us, in case we need to refer back to them to resolve issues or improve our service.

Where personal data is no longer needed, we will securely delete or anonymise it so that it can no longer be linked to an identifiable individual.

8. Data Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data from unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. This includes limiting access to personal data to those staff and third party providers who need it to perform their duties, and requiring them to respect the confidentiality and security of your information.

While we take reasonable steps to protect your data, no method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. However, we continuously review and improve our security measures.

9. International Transfers

Our services are primarily provided within the United Kingdom. If any of our service providers or systems involve transferring personal data outside the United Kingdom, we will take steps to ensure that your data is afforded an equivalent level of protection, including the use of appropriate safeguards as required by data protection law.

10. Your Data Protection Rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. Subject to certain conditions and exceptions, these include:

Right of access: you can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you and information about how we process it.

Right to rectification: you can ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete personal data.

Right to erasure: you can request that we delete your personal data in certain circumstances, for example where it is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected.

Right to restrict processing: you can ask us to restrict the processing of your personal data in specific situations, such as where you contest its accuracy.

Right to data portability: you can request that we provide your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine readable format, and, where technically feasible, transmit it to another controller.

Right to object: you may object to the processing of your personal data where we rely on legitimate interests, and we will stop processing unless we have compelling legitimate grounds to continue.

Right to withdraw consent: where we rely on consent, you may withdraw consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection authority if you believe that your rights have been infringed.

11. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, legal requirements, or the services we provide. Updated versions will be made available and will apply from the date of publication.

We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we process and protect your personal data.