Privacy Policy - Man With Van Mottingham

This Privacy Policy explains how Man With Van Mottingham collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. It applies to all Man With Van Mottingham customers in the area, including anyone who requests a quote, books a service, receives a delivery, or otherwise interacts with us in connection with our moving and transport services.

We are committed to handling personal data in a fair, lawful, transparent, and secure manner. This policy is intended to help you understand what information we collect, why we collect it, how long we keep it, and what rights you have over your personal information.

1. Information We Collect

We may collect and process the following categories of personal data when you use our services:

Identity details such as your name.
Contact details such as your address, email address, and telephone number.
Booking details including service dates, locations, property access notes, and service preferences.
Payment and billing information where required to process transactions or manage invoices.
Communication records including messages, calls, and correspondence relating to your booking or enquiry.
Service information such as moving inventory, item descriptions, or delivery instructions.
Technical data if you contact us through digital channels, which may include IP address, browser type, and usage data.

We only collect information that is necessary for providing our services, managing business operations, and meeting legal or contractual obligations. We do not intentionally collect special category data unless you choose to provide it and it is strictly necessary for the service.

2. How We Use Your Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

To provide quotes and respond to enquiries.
To arrange, confirm, and deliver moving and transport services.
To communicate with you about appointments, schedules, and service updates.
To process payments, send invoices, and manage accounts.
To maintain records of our work and customer interactions.
To improve our service quality, planning, and customer experience.
To comply with legal, tax, accounting, and insurance requirements.
To protect our business, staff, customers, and property from fraud or misuse.

We will only use your personal data where we have a valid reason to do so under data protection law. This includes situations where we need the data to fulfil a contract, comply with a legal duty, protect legitimate business interests, or where you have given consent.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under UK GDPR, we must have a lawful basis for processing your personal data. The main lawful bases we rely on are:

Contract

We process your data when it is necessary to provide a quote, manage a booking, deliver the service, or take steps at your request before entering into a contract.

Legal Obligation

We may process and retain data where required to comply with legal, tax, accounting, regulatory, or insurance obligations.

Legitimate Interests

We may use your information for legitimate business purposes such as customer administration, service improvement, internal record keeping, fraud prevention, and operational planning, provided that these interests do not override your rights and freedoms.

Consent

In limited cases, we may rely on your consent, for example where you have clearly agreed to a specific type of communication or optional data use. You may withdraw consent at any time where consent is the lawful basis used.

4. Sharing Your Information and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties who help us operate our services. These third parties act as processors or, in some cases, independent controllers. We only share the minimum data necessary and require appropriate safeguards.

Payment processors that handle card or online payment transactions.
Accounting and bookkeeping providers that assist with financial record management.
IT and cloud service providers that store or manage business data systems.
Communication tools used for customer messaging, scheduling, or administration.
Insurance providers, legal advisers, or regulators where disclosure is necessary to comply with law or protect our legitimate interests.

All processors are expected to process personal data only on our instructions, keep it secure, and comply with data protection requirements. We do not sell your personal data.

5. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including to meet legal, contractual, accounting, or reporting requirements. Retention periods may vary depending on the type of information and the reason it is held.

Quote and enquiry records may be retained for a reasonable period to manage follow-up queries and business administration.
Booking, invoice, and payment records are typically retained for tax and accounting purposes.
Communication records may be kept where needed to evidence agreements, resolve disputes, or support service management.
Technical and security logs may be retained for a limited period to help maintain system integrity and investigate incidents.

When data is no longer required, we will delete it securely or anonymise it so it can no longer identify you. Retention is reviewed periodically to ensure we do not keep information longer than necessary.

6. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights regarding your personal data. These include:

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

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, we may need to verify your identity before responding. We will respond within the time limits set by law unless an extension is permitted. These rights are not absolute and may be subject to legal exceptions.

7. Data Security

We use 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 we process and the risks involved. However, no system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, and we take reasonable steps to reduce risk and respond to incidents where necessary.

8. International Transfers

If any service provider processes personal data outside the UK, we will ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as approved contractual protections or transfer mechanisms required by data protection law. We only permit such transfers where adequate protection can be maintained.

9. 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 handling practices. Any updated version will apply from the date it is published or otherwise communicated. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically so they remain informed about how their data is used.

10. Summary of Key Points

This Privacy Policy explains how Man With Van Mottingham handles personal data for customers in the area. We only collect information necessary for quotes, bookings, service delivery, communication, billing, legal compliance, and business administration. We process data on the lawful bases of contract, legal obligation, legitimate interests, and consent where applicable. Personal data may be shared with trusted processors such as payment, accounting, IT, and communication providers under strict safeguards. We retain information only as long as needed and uphold your rights to access, correct, delete, restrict, object, or portability, where the law allows.

By using our services, you acknowledge that your personal data may be processed in accordance with this Privacy Policy and applicable data protection laws.