Privacy Policy - Man With A Van Brentford

This Privacy Policy explains how Man With A Van Brentford collects, uses, stores, and protects personal data when providing moving, transport, and related services. It applies to all Man With A Van Brentford customers in the Brentford area and to anyone who contacts us, requests a quote, books a service, or otherwise interacts with our business. We are committed to handling personal information in a way that is lawful, fair, transparent, and respectful of your privacy rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Who We Are

Man With A Van Brentford is a local removals and transport service operating in Brentford and surrounding areas. In the context of data protection law, we are the data controller for the personal data we collect and process in connection with our services. This means we decide how and why your personal data is used.

2. Personal Data We Collect

We may collect and process the following categories of personal data:

Identity details such as your name and title.
Contact details such as your phone number, email address, and service address.
Booking and service information including move dates, pickup and delivery locations, inventory details, property access information, and special handling requirements.
Payment-related information such as transaction records and billing details, where needed to manage invoices and payments.
Communication records including emails, messages, call notes, and any feedback or complaints you submit.
Technical data if you interact with our digital systems, such as device information, IP address, and basic usage data for security and operational purposes.

We generally do not intentionally collect special category data. If such information is provided by you or becomes necessary for a specific service requirement, we will only process it where permitted by law and with appropriate safeguards.

3. How We Use Your Data

We use personal data only where necessary for the operation of our business and the delivery of our services. Typical uses include:

Providing quotations and managing bookings.
Planning, carrying out, and completing moving services.
Communicating with you about your service requests and arrangements.
Processing payments, issuing invoices, and maintaining financial records.
Handling complaints, claims, or service issues.
Maintaining security, preventing fraud, and protecting our business and customers.
Complying with legal, tax, accounting, and regulatory obligations.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under UK GDPR, we must have a lawful basis to process your personal data. Depending on the circumstances, we rely on the following bases:

Contract

We process your personal data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes preparing a quote at your request, confirming a booking, carrying out the move, and managing payment or service changes.

Legitimate Interests

We may process personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate interests, provided your rights and freedoms do not override those interests. This includes business administration, service improvement, record-keeping, fraud prevention, security, and responding to customer enquiries. We always consider whether the processing is necessary and proportionate.

Legal Obligation

We process certain data when required to meet legal obligations, including tax, accounting, insurance, and record-keeping duties.

Consent

In limited situations, we may rely on your consent, for example where you explicitly agree to receive certain optional communications or where consent is needed for a specific type of processing. You may withdraw consent at any time, although this will not affect processing already carried out lawfully before withdrawal.

5. Data Sharing and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties who act as processors on our behalf. These processors are only allowed to use your data according to our instructions and must protect it appropriately. Such processors may include:

Payment service providers that help process transactions.
IT and cloud service providers that store or support our business systems.
Accounting and bookkeeping providers that assist with financial records and compliance.
Communication and messaging providers that help us manage customer enquiries and service updates.
Professional advisers such as legal or insurance advisers where needed for legitimate business purposes.

We may also disclose personal data if required by law, court order, regulatory request, or where necessary to protect our rights, property, customers, or staff. We do not sell your personal data.

6. Data Retention

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

In general:

Booking and service records are usually retained for a reasonable period after completion of the service to deal with queries, claims, or follow-up matters.
Financial and tax records are kept for the period required by law.
Communication records are retained only as long as needed to manage the relevant enquiry or relationship.
Security and technical data are kept for limited periods unless needed longer for investigation or legal reasons.

When data is no longer required, it is securely deleted, anonymised, or otherwise disposed of in a safe manner.

7. Data Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration, or disclosure. These measures are designed to reflect the nature of the data and the risks involved. While no system can be guaranteed completely secure, we continuously review our safeguards to maintain an appropriate level of protection.

8. International Transfers

Where personal data is transferred outside the UK, we will only do so where appropriate safeguards are in place to protect the information in accordance with applicable data protection law. These safeguards may include adequacy regulations or approved contractual protections.

9. Your Rights

As a data subject, you have a number of rights under UK GDPR. These rights may be subject to legal limits in some situations, but we will always respond appropriately and within the required timeframes.

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 request deletion of your data in certain circumstances.
Right to restrict processing – you can ask us to limit how we use your data in some cases.
Right to data portability – you may request a copy of certain data in a structured, commonly used format.
Right to object – you can object to processing based on legitimate interests, including direct marketing where applicable.
Right to withdraw consent – where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, we will require sufficient information to verify your identity and respond securely. We aim to deal with requests promptly and in line with applicable law.

10. Complaints

If you are concerned about how your personal data has been handled, you have the right to raise a complaint with the relevant data protection authority in the UK. We encourage you to contact us first so that we can try to resolve the issue directly and efficiently.

11. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal obligations, or data protection practices. Any revised version will apply from the date it is published, unless stated otherwise. We recommend reviewing this policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your information.

12. Summary of Our Privacy Commitment

Man With A Van Brentford is committed to handling personal data responsibly and in accordance with data protection law. We collect only the information needed to provide our moving services, use it for clear and lawful purposes, share it only with trusted processors when necessary, and keep it only for as long as required. We also respect your rights and aim to make our privacy practices transparent and reliable for every customer in the Brentford area.

This policy applies to all Man With A Van Brentford customers in the area.