Privacy Policy - Man With A Van Catford

Man With A Van Catford is committed to protecting the privacy and personal data of all customers in the Catford area and surrounding local service area. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, share, and protect personal information in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. It applies to all Man With A Van Catford customers in the area, including individuals, households, landlords, tenants, and business clients who use our removal, delivery, collection, and transport services.

1. Who We Are

Man With A Van Catford provides man and van services, including local moves, item collections, furniture transport, and related logistics support. For the purposes of data protection law, we are the data controller for the personal information we collect and process about our customers, prospective customers, and other individuals connected to our services.

We take our responsibilities seriously and aim to process personal data fairly, transparently, and securely. 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 over your data.

2. Personal Data We Collect

We only collect personal information that is necessary for providing our services, managing enquiries, fulfilling bookings, handling payments, and meeting legal obligations. The types of personal data we may collect include:

Identity details such as your name.
Contact details such as your phone number and email address.
Address information including collection, delivery, billing, and service locations.
Booking details such as service date, time, item descriptions, property access notes, and special handling requirements.
Payment information such as payment status, transaction records, and invoicing details.
Communication records including messages, call notes, enquiry forms, and complaint correspondence.
Service-related information such as load size, moving requirements, and any instructions you provide to help us complete the job safely and efficiently.

In limited cases, we may also collect information that is considered sensitive or special category data if you voluntarily provide it and it is necessary for service delivery or safety. For example, this could include accessibility requirements or other practical details needed to perform the service appropriately. We ask that you only share such information when it is relevant and necessary.

3. How We Use Your Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

To respond to enquiries and provide quotations.
To manage bookings and carry out requested services.
To communicate with you about your job, arrival times, service changes, and billing matters.
To process payments and maintain financial records.
To deal with complaints, claims, and customer support requests.
To meet legal, accounting, insurance, and regulatory obligations.
To improve our service quality, planning, and operational efficiency.
To prevent fraud, misuse, or unlawful activity.

We will only use your information for the purposes for which it was collected, unless we reasonably need to use it for another compatible purpose allowed by law.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under UK GDPR, we must have a lawful basis to process your personal data. Man With A Van Catford relies on the following lawful bases:

Contract

We process personal data when it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes handling bookings, arranging collections and deliveries, managing service details, and completing payment-related administration.

Legal Obligation

We may process and retain certain information where required to comply with legal obligations, including tax rules, accounting requirements, insurance matters, and record-keeping duties.

Legitimate Interests

We may process information where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. This may include managing customer enquiries, improving our services, protecting against fraud, maintaining service records, and resolving disputes.

Consent

In limited situations, we may rely on your consent, for example where we ask to use information beyond what is required for a service. If consent is used, you may withdraw it at any time. This will not affect processing that has already taken place lawfully.

5. Sharing Your Information

We do not sell personal data. However, we may share information with trusted third parties where necessary to operate our business and provide services. These may include:

Payment providers who process transactions securely.
Accountancy and bookkeeping processors who help with financial records and tax compliance.
IT and data storage providers who support secure systems, email, and file management.
Insurance providers where information is needed to handle a claim or assess risk.
Professional advisers such as legal or financial advisers when necessary.
Subcontractors or service partners assisting with a booking or delivery, where relevant to your service.

Any processor or third party we use is required to handle personal data securely, only in line with our instructions, and in accordance with data protection law. We aim to ensure that appropriate contractual and technical safeguards are in place.

6. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including for legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. The retention period may vary depending on the type of data and the reason it was collected.

In general:

Booking and customer records may be retained for a reasonable period after service completion to handle disputes, follow-up issues, or customer service matters.
Financial and invoice records are usually kept for the period required by tax and accounting law.
Enquiry and communication records may be kept for as long as needed to respond to requests or maintain service history.
Claims or complaint records may be retained until the matter is fully resolved and for an additional period where necessary for legal protection.

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

7. Data Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data from unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, loss, or destruction. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, limited staff access, and careful management of records and communications.

While we work hard to protect your data, no system can be guaranteed completely secure. If a data incident occurs, we will assess the situation promptly and take action in line with our legal obligations.

8. Your Data Protection Rights

As a data subject, you have rights under UK GDPR. These rights may be subject to certain conditions or exemptions. Your rights include:

The right of access to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
The right to rectification to ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
The right to erasure in certain circumstances, also known as the right to be forgotten.
The right to restrict processing where you want us to limit how we use your data.
The right to object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
The right to data portability to receive certain data in a structured, commonly used format where applicable.
The right to withdraw consent where consent is the basis for processing.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, we will review your request and respond within the time limits required by law. We may need to verify your identity before fulfilling a request. In some cases, legal obligations or legitimate business needs may mean we cannot immediately delete or stop processing certain records.

9. International Transfers

If any of our processors store or access personal data outside the UK, we will take steps to ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place. This may include recognised legal transfer mechanisms and contractual protections designed to keep your information secure and lawful.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in the law, our services, or our internal processes. Any revised version will apply from the date it is made available. We encourage customers to review the policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect personal data.

11. Summary of Our Approach

Man With A Van Catford uses personal data only where needed to deliver services, manage customer relationships, comply with the law, and support legitimate business operations. We aim to be transparent, fair, and respectful in everything we do. We collect only relevant information, keep it only as long as necessary, share it only with trusted processors where required, and respect your rights under data protection law.

By using the services of Man With A Van Catford, you acknowledge that this Privacy Policy applies to all customers in the Catford area and governs the handling of personal data connected with our services.