Privacy Policy - Man With Van Finchley

Man With Van Finchley is committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal data in a transparent, secure, and lawful manner. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, share, and protect personal information when you use our services. It applies to all Man With Van Finchley customers in the area, including anyone who requests a quote, books a service, communicates with us, or otherwise uses our moving and transport services.

1. Who We Are

For the purposes of data protection law, Man With Van Finchley acts as a data controller in relation to the personal data we collect and use in connection with our services. This means we decide how and why your personal data is processed. We are committed to complying with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

2. Personal Data We Collect

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

Identity information such as your name and title.
Contact details such as your telephone number and email address.
Address details including collection and delivery locations, billing address, and other property-related information relevant to the service.
Service information such as booking details, moving requirements, item descriptions, access conditions, and special instructions.
Payment and transaction records where required to process payments, issue invoices, and maintain financial records.
Communication records including enquiries, complaints, notes from phone calls, and correspondence.
Technical information if you interact with us electronically, such as device details, browser type, and basic usage information.
Proof of identity or other verification data where necessary for fraud prevention, dispute resolution, or legal compliance.

We do not intentionally collect special category data unless you choose to provide it to us and it is relevant to a specific request. Special category data includes information about health, religion, political opinions, or similar sensitive details. If such data is ever supplied, we will process it only where lawful and necessary.

3. How We Use Your Personal Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

To respond to enquiries and provide quotations.
To arrange, manage, and deliver moving and transport services.
To communicate with you about bookings, scheduling, access, and service updates.
To process payments, refunds, and accounting records.
To maintain service quality, resolve complaints, and handle disputes.
To comply with legal, regulatory, tax, and insurance obligations.
To prevent fraud, misuse, or unauthorised access.
To improve our business operations, record-keeping, and customer experience.

We only use your information in ways that are compatible with the purposes for which it was collected, unless we reasonably determine that we need to use it for a compatible purpose or a lawful new purpose.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under data protection law, we must have a lawful basis for processing your personal data. Depending on the context, we rely on one or more of the following:

4.1 Contract

We process your information when it is necessary to perform a contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract. This includes preparing quotes, confirming bookings, and delivering agreed services.

4.2 Legal Obligation

We may process data where it is necessary to comply with legal obligations, including accounting, tax compliance, record retention, and responding to lawful requests from authorities.

4.3 Legitimate Interests

We may process personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided these interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. Examples include business administration, service improvement, fraud prevention, internal auditing, and maintaining accurate records. We always aim to balance our interests against your privacy rights.

4.4 Consent

In limited situations, we may rely on your consent, for example where you voluntarily agree to receive certain types of marketing communications. Where consent is used, you may withdraw it at any time.

5. Data Sharing and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties where this is necessary to operate our business and provide services. These third parties act as processors or, in some cases, separate controllers.

Examples of processors may include:

Payment service providers that handle card or online payments.
Accounting and bookkeeping providers that help us maintain financial records.
IT and cloud storage providers that support secure data hosting, email, and business systems.
Customer management tools used for booking, communication, and service administration.
Professional advisers such as insurers, auditors, lawyers, or compliance consultants where required.

We require processors to protect your information, use it only for authorised purposes, and comply with applicable data protection laws. We do not sell your personal data.

We may also disclose data if required by law, court order, regulatory obligation, or to protect our legal rights, property, safety, or those of others.

6. International Transfers

Where any service provider stores or processes data outside the United Kingdom, we will take steps to ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place. These may include adequacy regulations, standard contractual clauses, or equivalent protective measures required by law.

7. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. The retention period depends on the type of information and the context in which it was provided.

In general:

Enquiry records may be retained for a limited period if no booking follows.
Service and transaction records are usually retained for the duration of the customer relationship and for a reasonable period afterwards.
Financial and tax records are retained for the period required by law.
Complaint or dispute records may be kept longer if needed to resolve issues or defend legal claims.

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

8. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you have several rights in relation to your personal data. These rights may be subject to legal exceptions and limits.

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

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, we will respond in line with legal requirements. We may need to verify your identity before acting on your request.

9. Security of Your Data

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These measures are designed to reflect the nature of the data and the risks involved. While no system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, we work to maintain a high standard of protection and review our safeguards regularly.

10. Marketing

Where allowed by law and where relevant to our services, we may send you information about offers or updates. You may opt out of marketing communications at any time. We will not send you unnecessary messages and will respect your preferences.

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 business operations. Any updated version will apply from the date it is made available. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically so they remain informed about how we handle personal data.

12. Summary of Our Commitment

Man With Van Finchley handles personal data responsibly, lawfully, and only when necessary. We collect information to provide moving and related services, rely on clear lawful bases for processing, retain information for appropriate periods, use trusted processors under proper safeguards, and respect the rights of every customer. This policy is intended to ensure that your personal information is treated with care, transparency, and respect at all times.