Privacy Policy - Man With Van Harrow

This Privacy Policy explains how Man With Van Harrow collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. It applies to all Man With Van Harrow customers in the area, including individuals and businesses who request, book, or receive our moving and transport services.

We are committed to handling personal information lawfully, fairly, and transparently. This policy is intended to help you understand what data we collect, why we collect it, the legal basis for processing it, how long we retain it, who may process it on our behalf, and what rights you have in relation to your personal data.

1. Information We Collect

We collect only the personal data that is necessary to provide our services, manage customer relationships, comply with legal obligations, and improve our operations. The types of information we may collect include:

Identity details such as your name and title.
Contact details such as address, email address, and telephone number.
Service details including moving addresses, property access information, inventory notes, requested dates, and service instructions.
Billing and payment information such as invoice details, transaction references, and payment status.
Communication records including enquiries, quotations, booking confirmations, complaints, and correspondence.
Technical information if you interact with our digital systems, such as IP address, browser type, and basic usage data.

We do not seek to collect sensitive personal data unless it is strictly necessary for a specific service or required by law. If such information is ever needed, we will ensure that additional safeguards are applied.

2. How We Use Your Data

We process personal data for legitimate business and legal purposes. The main uses include:

providing moving, transport, and related services;
preparing quotations and confirming bookings;
communicating with you about your service request;
managing payments, invoices, and refunds;
responding to questions, complaints, or disputes;
meeting accounting, tax, insurance, and legal requirements;
maintaining service quality, operational records, and internal reporting;
protecting against fraud, misuse, or security incidents.

We only use personal data for the purposes described in this policy or for purposes that are reasonably compatible with them. If we need to use your data for an unrelated purpose, we will provide notice where required by law.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under the UK GDPR, we must have a lawful basis for each type of processing. Man With Van Harrow relies on the following legal grounds:

Contract

We process your data when it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes providing quotes, confirming bookings, delivering moving services, issuing invoices, and managing related communications.

Legal Obligation

We may process certain data to comply with legal requirements, including tax, accounting, record-keeping, insurance, and dispute-handling obligations.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data where it is necessary for our legitimate interests and where those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. This may include service administration, internal record-keeping, business improvement, fraud prevention, and safeguarding our operations.

Consent

In limited situations, we may rely on your consent, for example for optional marketing communications or other non-essential processing. Where consent is used, you have the right to withdraw it at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

4. Data Sharing and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties only when necessary and only under appropriate safeguards. These third parties may act as processors or independent controllers depending on the service they provide.

Processors may include:

IT and hosting providers who support our systems, communications, and data storage;
Accounting and bookkeeping providers who assist with financial records and tax compliance;
Payment service providers who handle secure transactions;
Insurance providers where a claim or risk assessment requires relevant information;
Professional advisers such as legal or financial advisers;
Regulatory, law enforcement, or public authorities where disclosure is required by law.

Where a processor handles data on our behalf, it is required to act only on our instructions, keep data secure, and use it only for the agreed purpose. We do not sell personal data.

5. International Transfers

If any of our processors store or access data outside the UK, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place. These safeguards may include adequacy regulations, standard contractual clauses, or equivalent protections recognised under applicable data protection law.

6. Data Retention

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

As a general approach:

Customer service and booking records are retained for a reasonable period after the service is completed to manage queries, complaints, and evidence of work carried out.
Financial and tax records are retained for the period required by law.
Complaint and dispute records may be retained longer where necessary to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.
Marketing data is retained until you withdraw consent or object, where applicable.

When personal data is no longer needed, we will securely delete, anonymise, or archive it in accordance with our retention practices.

7. Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against accidental loss, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These measures are designed to reflect the nature of the information we process and the risks involved.

Although no system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, we take reasonable steps to reduce risk and to ensure that access to personal data is limited to individuals who need it for legitimate business purposes.

8. Your Rights Under GDPR

You have several rights regarding your personal data. These rights may be subject to legal limits, exemptions, or conditions depending on the circumstances.

Right of access – you may request confirmation of whether we process your data and obtain a copy of it.
Right to rectification – you may request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
Right to erasure – you may request deletion of your data in certain circumstances.
Right to restriction – you may request limited processing in specific situations.
Right to data portability – you may request that certain data be provided to you or another controller in a structured, commonly used format.
Right to object – you may object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
Right to withdraw consent – where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you believe your rights have been infringed. We encourage you to raise concerns with us first so we can try to resolve the matter promptly.

9. Data Accuracy and Your Responsibility

We aim to keep the personal data we hold accurate and up to date. To help us do this, please inform us if your details change or if any information you have provided is incorrect. Accurate data helps us deliver services efficiently and communicate with you effectively.

10. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults and businesses. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children except where it is incidental to a service request made by an adult customer and only where necessary for service delivery or safety. If we become aware that we have collected data inappropriately, we will take reasonable steps to delete it.

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 handling practices. Any changes will take effect when the revised version is made available. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect personal data.

12. Summary of Our Commitment

Man With Van Harrow is committed to processing personal data responsibly and in line with GDPR principles of lawfulness, fairness, transparency, data minimisation, accuracy, storage limitation, integrity, and confidentiality. We collect only the information needed to provide our services, use it for clear and lawful purposes, share it only when necessary with trusted processors, and retain it only for as long as required.

By using our services, customers in the Harrow area acknowledge that their personal data may be processed in accordance with this policy.

This Privacy Policy applies to all Man With Van Harrow customers in the area.