Privacy Policy - Man With Van Bloomsbury

Last updated: This Privacy Policy explains how Man With Van Bloomsbury collects, uses, shares, stores, and protects personal data when providing services to customers in the Bloomsbury area. It applies to all Man With Van Bloomsbury customers in the area, including individuals and businesses who enquire about, book, or use our removal and moving services.

1. Introduction

Man With Van Bloomsbury is committed to handling personal data in a lawful, fair, and transparent manner in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. This Privacy Policy sets out what personal data we collect, why we collect it, how long we keep it, who we may share it with, and the rights available to you as a data subject.

We only collect personal data that is necessary for operating our services, responding to requests, managing bookings, and meeting legal or contractual obligations. We take privacy seriously and use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect the information we hold.

2. Personal Data We Collect

We may collect and process different categories of personal data depending on how you interact with us. The data may be provided directly by you, generated during service delivery, or obtained from third parties where permitted by law.

2.1 Information you provide

Identity data: name, title, and in some cases company name.
Contact data: address, email address, telephone number, and moving location details.
Booking information: date of service, items to be moved, property access notes, and special instructions.
Payment-related data: billing details and transaction references, where applicable.
Communication records: enquiries, messages, complaint details, and correspondence.

2.2 Information collected automatically or during service delivery

Service data: details relating to the moving job, completion records, and service updates.
Technical data: basic device or browser information when you contact us through digital channels, if applicable.
Operational data: records necessary to organise routes, crew schedules, and service performance.

We do not intentionally seek to collect special category personal data, such as information about health, religion, or political opinions. If such data is shared with us incidentally, it will only be processed where strictly necessary and lawful.

3. How We Use Personal Data

We process personal data for specific and legitimate business purposes, including the following:

to provide quotes and respond to enquiries;
to arrange, manage, and complete moving services;
to communicate with customers about bookings, changes, and service updates;
to manage payments, invoicing, and financial records;
to handle complaints, disputes, and customer support;
to maintain business records and improve our operations;
to comply with legal, regulatory, tax, or accounting obligations;
to prevent fraud, misuse, or unlawful activity;
to defend or establish legal claims where needed.

We will only use your data for the purposes for which it was collected, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for a compatible purpose and the law permits this.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under data protection law, we must have a lawful basis to process personal data. Man With Van Bloomsbury relies on the following lawful bases:

4.1 Contract

We process personal data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes providing quotes at your request, managing bookings, and completing the moving service.

4.2 Legitimate interests

We may process personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. Examples include service administration, record-keeping, customer support, fraud prevention, and business improvement.

4.3 Legal obligation

We may process data where required to comply with legal obligations, such as tax, accounting, regulatory, or dispute-resolution requirements.

4.4 Consent

In limited situations, we may rely on your consent. Where consent is used, you may withdraw it at any time. Withdrawal will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.

5. Sharing and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties that help us run our business. These parties act as processors or, in some cases, independent controllers. We ensure that appropriate contracts and safeguards are in place before sharing personal data.

5.1 Processors we may use

IT and system providers: for email, storage, scheduling, and business administration tools.
Payment providers: to handle card or bank-related transactions, where relevant.
Accounting and bookkeeping providers: for financial record management and compliance.
Customer management providers: to record and organise service enquiries and bookings.
Professional advisers: such as accountants, auditors, insurers, or legal advisers.

5.2 Other disclosures

We may also disclose personal data where necessary to:

comply with a legal request or court order;
protect our rights, property, staff, or customers;
prevent or investigate suspected fraud or security incidents;
support a merger, restructuring, or business transfer, where permitted by law.

We do not sell personal data.

6. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, or as required by law. Retention periods may vary depending on the type of data and the context in which it was obtained.

Quotation and booking records: kept for a reasonable period to manage service history, queries, and potential disputes.
Financial and accounting records: retained for the period required by tax and accounting legislation.
Complaint and correspondence records: kept as long as needed to resolve issues and demonstrate compliance.
General operational records: retained only for as long as necessary for business administration and service quality.

When personal data is no longer required, it will be securely deleted, destroyed, or anonymised.

7. Data Security

We use appropriate security measures to protect personal data against accidental loss, unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These measures may include access controls, secure storage practices, staff confidentiality obligations, and limited data sharing on a need-to-know basis.

While we work to protect personal data, no method of transmission or storage can be guaranteed to be completely secure. We therefore cannot promise absolute security, but we continuously review and improve our safeguards.

8. Your Rights

Depending on the circumstances and applicable law, you may have the following rights regarding your personal data:

Right of access: to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification: to ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
Right to erasure: to request deletion of personal data in certain situations.
Right to restrict processing: to ask us to limit how we use your data in certain cases.
Right to object: to object to processing based on legitimate interests.
Right to data portability: to receive certain data in a structured, commonly used format.
Right to withdraw consent: where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

You also have the right to raise concerns with the Information Commissioner’s Office if you believe your data has been handled unlawfully or unfairly.

9. How to Exercise Your Rights

If you wish to exercise any of your rights, we will take reasonable steps to verify your identity before responding. We may ask for sufficient information to confirm your request and protect your personal data from unauthorised disclosure.

We aim to respond without undue delay and within the time limits required by law. In some cases, we may need additional time or may not be able to comply fully if an exemption applies.

10. Third-Party Websites and Services

If you interact with external services used in connection with our business, those services may collect or process data under their own privacy terms. We encourage you to review the privacy notices of any third-party providers you interact with, as this Privacy Policy does not govern their processing activities.

11. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, legal obligations, or operational requirements. The updated version will apply from the date it is issued. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically so they remain informed about how their data is handled.

12. Summary of Key Principles

Man With Van Bloomsbury processes personal data only where lawful, necessary, and proportionate. We collect limited information to provide moving services, manage communication, and meet legal obligations. We share data only with trusted processors where needed, retain it for appropriate periods, and respect your privacy rights under data protection law.

This policy applies to all Man With Van Bloomsbury customers in the area and is intended to provide a clear and transparent explanation of our data handling practices. We are committed to keeping your personal information secure, lawfully processed, and used only for legitimate purposes related to our services.