Privacy Policy - Man With A Van Hornchurch

Effective for all Man With A Van Hornchurch customers in area. This Privacy Policy explains how personal data is collected, used, shared, stored, and protected when you use our removal, delivery, and transport services. It applies to all customers, prospective customers, and anyone who contacts us or receives a service from us in the Hornchurch area.

1. Introduction

We are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal data in a lawful, fair, and transparent way. This Privacy Policy is designed to meet the standards of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. It explains 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.

By using our services, requesting a quote, or communicating with us, you acknowledge that your personal data may be processed as described in this policy.

2. Personal Data We Collect

We collect only the personal data necessary to provide and manage our services. The types of data we may collect include:

Identity details such as your name and title.
Contact details such as your address, email address, and telephone number.
Service details such as collection and delivery addresses, property access information, item descriptions, and move dates.
Payment information such as billing details and payment confirmation. We do not normally store full card details if payment is processed through a secure payment provider.
Communication records such as emails, messages, quotations, complaints, and notes about your booking.
Usage and technical information if you interact with our digital systems, including device information, browser type, and basic logs where applicable.
Special category data only where you voluntarily provide it and it is necessary for a specific service, for example if access arrangements or health-related considerations affect the move. We minimise such processing wherever possible.

We do not intentionally collect more data than we need. Please do not share unnecessary personal information unless it is relevant to the service you request.

3. How We Use Your Data

Your personal data is used for the following purposes:

To provide quotations and respond to enquiries.
To manage bookings, deliveries, removals, and related services.
To communicate with you about schedules, access, changes, delays, or service updates.
To process payments, issue invoices, and maintain accounting records.
To handle complaints, claims, and customer support matters.
To meet legal, tax, and regulatory obligations.
To improve service quality, planning, staff training, and business operations.
To protect our business, customers, and property from fraud or misuse.

We only use personal data for clear and legitimate purposes, and we do not use it in ways that are incompatible with those purposes.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under UK GDPR, we must have a lawful basis to process personal data. Depending on the situation, we rely on one or more of the following bases:

Contract

We process your data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes providing quotes, confirming bookings, carrying out removals, handling payments, and delivering agreed services.

Legal Obligation

We process some data to comply with legal requirements, including tax, accounting, insurance, and record-keeping obligations.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. Examples include managing operations, preventing fraud, maintaining service records, and improving our services.

Consent

In some cases, we may rely on your consent, particularly where processing is optional or involves certain forms of marketing communication. Where consent is used, you may withdraw it at any time.

5. Sharing Your Information and Processors

We may share your data with trusted third parties where necessary to deliver our services or meet legal obligations. These third parties act as processors or independent controllers depending on the nature of the service.

Payment providers who securely process transactions.
Accounting and bookkeeping providers who help us manage invoices and tax records.
IT, email, and storage providers who support our business systems and data backup arrangements.
Customer management or booking systems used to organise quotations and appointments.
Insurance providers where a claim or incident requires disclosure.
Professional advisers such as legal, compliance, or financial advisers.
Public authorities where disclosure is required by law or to protect our rights, customers, or staff.

Where processors are used, they are required to process your personal data only on our instructions, to keep it secure, and to comply with applicable data protection law. We take reasonable steps to ensure that any third party handling data on our behalf provides appropriate safeguards.

6. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purpose for which it was collected, including to meet legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. Retention periods may vary depending on the nature of the record.

Quotation and booking records are generally kept for a reasonable period to manage service history, disputes, and repeat enquiries.
Financial and tax records are kept for the period required by law.
Communication records may be retained where needed for customer service, evidence, or complaint handling.
Claims or incident-related data may be kept longer if necessary to defend legal rights or resolve insurance matters.

When data is no longer needed, it is securely deleted, anonymised, or destroyed.

7. Data Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff confidentiality obligations, and routine review of business systems.

While no system can be guaranteed completely secure, we take data protection seriously and work to reduce risks to your personal information.

8. Your Rights

You have a number of rights under data protection law in relation to your personal data. These rights may apply depending on the legal basis for processing and the circumstances of your request.

Right to 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 data.
Right to erasure – you may ask us to delete your data in certain circumstances.
Right to restriction – you may ask us to limit how we use your data in certain situations.
Right to object – you may object to processing based on legitimate interests, and to direct marketing where applicable.
Right to data portability – you may request certain data in a structured, commonly used format where applicable.
Right to withdraw consent – where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

Exercising these rights will not usually affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before your request. Some rights may be limited where we have a legal obligation or overriding legitimate reason to keep processing the data.

9. International Transfers

In some cases, service providers or systems may store or process data outside the UK. Where this happens, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your information in accordance with data protection law.

10. Marketing

If we send marketing communications, we will do so only where permitted by law. You can opt out of marketing at any time. Service-related messages, such as booking confirmations or operational updates, are not marketing and may still be necessary for us to provide the service.

11. Children’s Data

Our services are not intended for children, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children unless it is necessary in connection with a customer booking or service arrangement provided by an adult. If we become aware that we have collected data inappropriately, we will take appropriate steps to remove it.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in the law, our services, or our data processing practices. Any updates will take effect when published in the relevant version of the policy.

13. Summary of Your Privacy

This policy explains how Man With A Van Hornchurch handles customer data responsibly, lawfully, and transparently. We collect only what we need, use it for legitimate service purposes, retain it for as long as required, share it only with trusted processors or where legally required, and respect your rights under UK data protection law.

If you are a Man With A Van Hornchurch customer in area, this policy applies to you and governs how your personal data is used in connection with our services.