Privacy Policy - Man And A Van Croydon

Man And A Van Croydon is committed to protecting your personal data and respecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, share, and protect personal information relating to our customers, potential customers, and any other individuals whose data we handle in connection with our services. It applies to all Man And A Van Croydon customers in the area, including anyone who requests, receives, or enquires about our moving, removal, transport, packing, and related services.

This policy is written in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. It sets out what information we collect, the lawful basis we rely on, how long we keep information, which processors may handle data on our behalf, and the rights available to you.

1. Personal Data We Collect

We only collect personal data that is necessary for providing our services, managing our business, and meeting legal obligations. The information we collect may include:

Identity details such as your name and title.
Contact details including email address, telephone number, and correspondence details.
Service information such as pickup and delivery addresses, moving dates, property access details, and inventory information.
Billing and payment information where required to process invoices, payments, refunds, or deposits.
Communication records such as enquiries, quotes, complaints, feedback, and service-related messages.
Technical information if you interact with our digital systems, including basic device and usage data used for security and performance.
Special instructions you provide to help us safely complete a removal or transport service, for example handling requirements for fragile or bulky items.

We do not intentionally collect unnecessary personal information. Where possible, we keep our data collection limited and relevant to the service requested.

2. How We Use Your Personal Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

To provide quotes and respond to enquiries.
To arrange and deliver moving and transport services.
To communicate with you about bookings, timings, and service updates.
To prepare invoices, process payments, and manage accounts.
To handle complaints, queries, and customer service matters.
To improve our operations, customer experience, and service quality.
To comply with legal, tax, accounting, and regulatory obligations.
To protect our business, staff, customers, and property from fraud, misuse, or other unlawful activity.

We only process your data where we have a valid lawful basis under UK GDPR.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

We rely on one or more of the following lawful bases depending on the context in which your data is used:

Contract

We process personal data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes providing quotations, arranging services, completing moves, issuing invoices, and managing bookings.

Legal Obligation

We may need to process and retain data to comply with legal obligations such as tax law, accounting requirements, insurance requirements, and record-keeping duties.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided your rights and freedoms do not override those interests. This may include service administration, fraud prevention, business improvement, internal record keeping, and resolving disputes.

Consent

In limited situations, we may rely on your consent, for example for certain marketing activities or optional communications. Where consent is used, you may withdraw it at any time.

Vital Interests

In rare cases, we may process information to protect someone’s vital interests, such as when information is needed in an emergency involving health or safety.

4. Sharing Your Data and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties where necessary to deliver our services, manage our operations, or meet legal obligations. These third parties act as processors or independent controllers depending on the service provided.

Typical processors may include:

Payment processors that handle card or online transactions.
IT and cloud service providers that store or support business systems, emails, and records.
Accounting and bookkeeping providers that assist with financial records and tax compliance.
Customer communication tools used to manage enquiries, scheduling, and service messages.
Insurance providers where claims or risk management matters arise.
Professional advisers such as legal or tax advisers when necessary.

Where a third party processes data on our behalf, we require appropriate data protection safeguards and only allow processing for specified purposes. We do not sell your personal data.

We may also disclose information if required by law, court order, regulatory authority, or to protect our legal rights, staff, customers, or the public.

5. International Transfers

If any processor stores or accesses 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 approved under applicable data protection law.

6. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes described in this policy. Retention periods depend on the type of information, the nature of the service, legal requirements, and whether a dispute or claim may arise.

Customer and booking records are typically retained for a period needed to administer the service and manage any follow-up queries.
Financial and invoice records are retained for the period required by tax and accounting law.
Communication records may be kept for a reasonable time to support customer service, contract administration, and complaint handling.
Claims or dispute-related records may be retained longer where necessary to defend or establish legal claims.

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

7. Data Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, accidental loss, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff confidentiality obligations, and limiting data access to authorised personnel only.

Although we take reasonable precautions, no system can be guaranteed to be completely secure. We therefore encourage you to share information carefully and only provide details that are necessary for your service.

8. Your Rights Under GDPR

You have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. Subject to legal limits, these include:

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 your data in certain circumstances.
Right to restriction – to ask us to limit processing in certain situations.
Right to object – to object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
Right to data portability – to receive certain data in a structured, commonly used format where applicable.
Right to withdraw consent – where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

We will respond to valid rights requests within the timeframes required by law. In some cases, we may need to retain certain information where required by law or where we have compelling legitimate grounds to continue processing.

9. Marketing Communications

If we send marketing communications, we will do so only where permitted by law. You may opt out of marketing at any time. Operational messages relating to an active booking, invoice, or service update are not marketing and may still be necessary for us to deliver our services.

10. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal data directly from children unless it is incidentally included as part of a household moving arrangement or where it is necessary to provide a service requested by an adult customer. In such cases, we handle the data carefully and only to the extent required.

11. Changes to This Privacy Policy

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

12. Summary of Our Commitment

Man And A Van Croydon respects your privacy and aims to handle personal data fairly, lawfully, and transparently. We collect only the information necessary to provide our services, rely on lawful bases recognised by UK GDPR, keep data only as long as needed, use trusted processors with appropriate safeguards, and support your rights over your personal information. This policy applies to all customers in the Croydon area who use or enquire about our services.