Privacy Policy - Man With Van Forestdale

This Privacy Policy explains how Man With Van Forestdale collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data when providing moving and related services. It applies to all Man With Van Forestdale customers in the area, including individuals and businesses who enquire about, book, receive, or otherwise use our services. We are committed to handling personal data in a lawful, fair, and transparent way and in accordance with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Who We Are

For the purposes of data protection law, Man With Van Forestdale acts as the data controller for the personal data described in this policy. This means we decide why and how personal data is collected and used in connection with our services. We only process personal data where we have a valid legal reason to do so and where it is necessary for our business operations, service delivery, or legal obligations.

2. Personal Data We Collect

We may collect and process various types of personal data depending on how you interact with us. The categories of data we may collect include:

Identity data: name, title, and any relevant business or household details.
Contact data: address, email address, telephone number, and service location details.
Booking and service data: details of the move, requested dates, property access information, item descriptions, and special handling requirements.
Payment data: billing details, payment status, and transaction records.
Communication data: correspondence by phone, email, text message, or other communication methods.
Technical data: limited information such as device or browser details if you interact with digital systems we use to manage enquiries or bookings.
Usage and service history: records of past bookings, complaints, feedback, and customer service interactions.

We do not intentionally collect special category personal data unless it is provided by you and is necessary for a specific service request. If such information is shared, we will only process it where a lawful basis applies and where extra protection measures are appropriate.

3. How We Collect Personal Data

Personal data may be collected directly from you when you make an enquiry, request a quote, confirm a booking, communicate with us, or give feedback. We may also receive data from:

third parties involved in arranging your move, such as landlords, agents, building managers, or payment providers;
publicly available sources where necessary to verify business or service information;
our service providers and processors who support our operations.

We only collect data that is relevant and limited to what is necessary for the purposes explained in this policy.

4. How We Use Personal Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

to provide quotations and manage bookings;
to plan, deliver, and complete moving services;
to communicate with you before, during, and after a service;
to issue invoices, receive payments, and maintain financial records;
to manage customer support, complaints, and service improvement;
to meet legal, regulatory, accounting, and insurance requirements;
to protect our business, customers, staff, and property;
to prevent fraud, misuse, or other unlawful activity.

We will only use your personal data for the purpose for which it was collected, unless we reasonably believe another compatible purpose is required or permitted by law.

5. Lawful Basis for Processing

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

5.1 Contract

We process personal data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes arranging a quote, confirming your booking, delivering the move, processing payment, and managing related service communications.

5.2 Legitimate Interests

We may process personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests and where your rights and freedoms do not override those interests. This may include customer service, service planning, business administration, fraud prevention, and record management. We ensure that our interests are balanced against your privacy rights.

5.3 Legal Obligation

We may process personal data where required to comply with legal obligations, such as accounting rules, tax requirements, insurance matters, dispute resolution, or lawful requests from public authorities.

5.4 Consent

In limited situations, we may ask for your consent to process your personal data. Where consent is used as the lawful basis, you have the right to withdraw it at any time. Withdrawal of consent will not affect processing already carried out before consent was withdrawn.

6. Sharing Personal Data and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties where necessary to operate our services. These parties may act as processors, meaning they process data on our behalf and under our instructions, or they may act as independent controllers in limited circumstances where they have their own legal responsibilities.

Processors we may use include:

payment providers for secure payment handling;
accounting and bookkeeping providers for financial administration;
IT and cloud service providers for data storage, system support, and communications;
customer management or scheduling software providers for booking administration;
insurance providers and professional advisers where needed for claims, advice, or compliance;
subcontractors or delivery partners assisting with service fulfilment under appropriate controls.

We only engage processors that can provide sufficient guarantees of security, confidentiality, and GDPR compliance. Where required, we put in place written data processing agreements to protect your information.

We may also disclose personal data if required by law, to enforce our terms, to protect our rights, or to prevent harm, fraud, or abuse.

7. International Transfers

Where personal data is transferred outside the UK, we will take appropriate steps to ensure that it remains protected to a standard required by data protection law. This may include using approved contractual safeguards or transferring data only to countries recognised as providing adequate protection.

8. Data Retention

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

In general, we may keep:

customer and booking records for the duration needed to manage the service and handle any follow-up issues;
financial and invoice records for the period required by tax and accounting law;
correspondence and complaint records for a reasonable period in case of disputes or legal claims;
technical and administrative records only as long as needed for system security, troubleshooting, or operational purposes.

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

9. Data Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against accidental loss, unauthorised access, misuse, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff confidentiality obligations, and limited access to personal data on a need-to-know basis.

While no method of transmission or storage is completely secure, we take reasonable steps to safeguard your information at all times.

10. Your Rights Under GDPR

Depending on the circumstances and lawful basis for processing, you may have the following rights in relation to your personal data:

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 situations.
Right to restriction: to ask us to limit how we use your data in certain cases.
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.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, we will respond in accordance with applicable law. We may need to verify your identity before responding to a request. In some cases, rights may be limited by legal obligations or other lawful grounds for retaining and using the data.

11. Complaints and Supervisory Authority

If you have concerns about how your personal data is handled, you have the right to raise those concerns with the relevant data protection authority. In the UK, this is the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). We encourage you to raise any concerns directly so that we can try to resolve the matter promptly and fairly.

12. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in the law, our services, or our data practices. Any updates will apply from the date they take effect. We encourage you to review this policy periodically so that you remain informed about how we protect your personal data.

13. Summary of Our Commitment

Man With Van Forestdale is committed to handling personal data responsibly, securely, and transparently. We collect only the information we need, use it for clear and lawful purposes, retain it only as long as necessary, and share it only with trusted processors or where required by law. We respect your rights and aim to ensure that every customer in the area receives services with their privacy protected.