Privacy Policy - Man With Van Shoreditch

This Privacy Policy explains how Man With Van Shoreditch collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data relating to its customers and service users. It applies to all Man With Van Shoreditch customers in the area, including individuals who request, book, or receive our moving, delivery, loading, unloading, and related transport services. We are committed to handling personal information in a lawful, fair, and transparent manner in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Who We Are

Man With Van Shoreditch provides local and regional moving services for households, businesses, and individuals. In the context of data protection law, we act as a data controller when we decide why and how your personal data is processed. This means we are responsible for ensuring that your information is handled properly and only for legitimate purposes.

2. Personal Data We Collect

We may collect and process the following categories of personal data:

Identity details such as your name, title, and any business or company name you provide.
Contact details including telephone number, email address, and address details necessary to complete bookings and services.
Booking and service information such as moving dates, service requirements, inventory lists, access instructions, and special handling requests.
Payment and billing data such as payment confirmation, invoice details, and transaction records. We do not store card security details unless absolutely necessary and permitted by payment processes.
Correspondence records including emails, messages, notes from calls, complaints, and feedback.
Technical information such as basic website or device data where relevant to our systems, including IP address, browser type, and usage logs.
Preference and consent information such as communication preferences and marketing choices.

We generally do not seek to collect special category data unless it is provided voluntarily and is necessary for a specific service request, such as accessibility needs. Where special category data is processed, we apply additional safeguards and only do so when lawful under data protection law.

3. How We Use Your Data

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

To provide quotations and manage bookings.
To deliver moving and transport services safely and efficiently.
To communicate with you about your booking, arrival times, service changes, or issues.
To issue invoices, process payments, and maintain accounting records.
To handle complaints, claims, and customer support requests.
To improve our services, operations, and customer experience.
To comply with legal and regulatory obligations.
To protect our business, staff, customers, and property, including fraud prevention and security purposes.

We only process personal data for specified purposes and do not use it in ways that are incompatible with those purposes.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under the UK GDPR, we must have a lawful basis for every processing activity. Depending on the context, Man With Van Shoreditch relies on the following lawful bases:

Contract – where processing is necessary to perform a contract with you or take steps at your request before entering into a contract. This includes booking services, arranging collections, and completing deliveries.
Legal obligation – where we must retain or disclose certain information to meet tax, accounting, safety, insurance, or other statutory requirements.
Legitimate interests – where processing is necessary for our legitimate business interests and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. This may include service improvement, administration, fraud prevention, and record keeping.
Consent – where you have given clear permission for a specific purpose, such as receiving marketing communications. You may withdraw consent at any time.

If we rely on legitimate interests, we carefully balance our interests against your privacy rights. If we rely on consent, we make sure it is freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous.

5. Sharing and Processors

We may share your personal data with trusted third parties who help us operate our services. These organisations act as processors or independent controllers depending on the situation.

Processors we may use include:

Payment service providers to process transactions securely.
Accounting and invoicing systems to manage records and tax compliance.
Scheduling, dispatch, or customer management tools that help organise jobs.
IT and cloud service providers that store or support our business systems.
Communication platforms used to send emails, messages, or service updates.

Where a third party acts as a processor, they only process personal data on our instructions and are required to keep it secure and confidential. We use data processing agreements or equivalent contractual safeguards to ensure compliance.

We may also share data where required by law, court order, or regulatory authority, or where necessary to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims. We do not sell your personal data.

6. International Transfers

Some processors may store or access data outside the UK. Where this happens, we ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place, such as adequacy regulations, standard contractual clauses, or equivalent protective measures recognised under data protection law.

7. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purpose it was collected and to meet legal, accounting, and operational requirements. Retention periods vary depending on the type of information and the purpose of processing.

Booking and service records are typically retained for a period needed to manage the service, handle disputes, and maintain business records.
Financial and tax records are retained for the period required by law.
Correspondence and complaint records are retained for as long as needed to resolve the matter and protect our legitimate interests.
Consent-based marketing records are retained until you withdraw consent or unsubscribe.

When data is no longer required, we delete it securely or anonymise it so that it can no longer identify you.

8. Security of Your Data

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data from unauthorised access, accidental loss, misuse, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff confidentiality obligations, and regular review of data handling practices. While no system is completely risk-free, we work to ensure that your information is protected to a standard appropriate to the nature of the data and the risks involved.

9. Your Rights Under Data Protection Law

You have rights regarding your personal data. Subject to legal conditions and exemptions, these rights may include:

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

You also have the right to raise a concern with the Information Commissioner’s Office if you believe your data protection rights have been infringed. We encourage you to contact us first so we can try to resolve any issue promptly.

10. Marketing Preferences

We will only send marketing communications where permitted by law. If you have consented to receive such communications, you can change your preferences or withdraw consent at any time. Administrative or service-related messages connected to your booking are not marketing communications and may still be sent when necessary.

11. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults and business customers. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children unless it is provided incidentally and is necessary to complete a service request. If we become aware that we have collected data from a child without appropriate legal basis, we will take steps to delete it or obtain the required permission where applicable.

12. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in legal requirements, our services, or how we process personal data. Any updates will take effect when published or otherwise communicated to customers. We recommend reviewing this policy periodically to stay informed about how your data is handled.

13. Summary of Our Commitment

Man With Van Shoreditch is committed to respecting your privacy and processing personal data responsibly. We collect only what is necessary, use it for clear and lawful purposes, keep it only as long as needed, and protect it with appropriate safeguards. Our aim is to provide reliable moving services while maintaining transparency and compliance with data protection law.