Privacy Policy - Man With A Van Bow

This Privacy Policy explains how Man With A Van Bow collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data when providing services to customers in the Bow area. It applies to all Man With A Van Bow customers in area, including anyone who makes an enquiry, requests a quotation, books a service, receives a service, or communicates with us in relation to removals, deliveries, transport, or related van services.

We are committed to handling personal data in a lawful, fair, and transparent way in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. This policy is intended to help you understand 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 personal data.

1. Information We Collect

We only collect personal data that is necessary for providing and managing our services. The type of information collected may depend on your interaction with us. We may collect:

Identity information such as your name and, where relevant, business name.
Contact details such as telephone number, email address, and service address.
Service details such as collection and delivery addresses, property access notes, preferred dates, item lists, and booking requirements.
Payment information such as billing details and transaction records. We do not normally store full card details if payment is processed securely by a third-party payment provider.
Communications including emails, messages, booking requests, complaints, feedback, and call notes.
Operational data such as service history, quotations, invoices, and records relating to completed jobs.
Technical data if you interact with our digital systems, including basic device and usage information where applicable.

We do not intentionally collect special category data unless you provide it voluntarily and it is required for a specific service request. If such information is shared, we will only process it where there is a lawful basis and appropriate safeguards.

2. How We Use Your Data

Your personal data is used only for legitimate business purposes connected to our services. These include:

providing quotations and arranging bookings;
planning and carrying out removals, transport, or delivery services;
communicating with you about your booking, timings, access, and service changes;
issuing invoices, processing payments, and maintaining financial records;
responding to questions, complaints, or claims;
maintaining service records and improving our operations;
meeting legal, tax, accounting, and insurance obligations;
preventing fraud, misuse, or unlawful activity;
protecting our legal rights and the safety of our customers, staff, and property.

We do not use your personal data for unrelated purposes unless required or permitted by law.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under GDPR, we must have a lawful basis for processing personal data. Depending on the activity, Man With A Van Bow relies on one or more of the following lawful bases:

Contract

We process personal data when it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes taking bookings, arranging services, communicating about a job, and issuing invoices.

Legal Obligation

We may process data where we are required to do so by law, including tax, accounting, record-keeping, fraud prevention, and compliance with insurance or transport-related obligations.

Legitimate Interests

We may process personal data for our legitimate business interests where those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. Examples include managing operations, maintaining service records, improving customer service, securing our systems, and handling disputes or claims. Where we rely on legitimate interests, we consider the impact on your privacy and ensure appropriate safeguards are in place.

Consent

In limited situations, we may rely on your consent, for example where it is required for certain optional communications or processing activities. If we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time, although this will not affect processing already carried out lawfully before withdrawal.

4. Data Sharing and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties who help us deliver our services. These third parties act as processors or independent controllers depending on the service they provide. When acting as processors, they only handle your data on our instructions and must keep it secure.

Typical processors and service providers may include:

Payment processors for secure transaction handling;
Accounting and invoicing providers for financial administration;
IT and cloud service providers for storage, email, scheduling, and system support;
Customer communication tools for sending service-related messages;
Insurance providers in connection with claims or risk management;
Professional advisers such as accountants, auditors, or legal advisers where necessary;
Regulatory or public authorities where disclosure is required by law.

We require processors to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data. We do not sell personal information.

5. International Transfers

Where any processor or service provider stores or accesses data outside the UK, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place. These may include adequacy regulations, standard contractual clauses, or other lawful transfer mechanisms required under applicable data protection law.

6. Data Retention

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

Quotation and enquiry records are typically kept for a limited period to manage follow-up queries and business records.
Booking and service records are retained for the duration required to complete the service and manage any post-service issues.
Invoice, payment, and tax records are kept for the period required by law.
Complaint, claim, or dispute records may be kept for longer where necessary to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

When data is no longer needed, it is securely deleted or anonymised. We review retention periodically to ensure we do not keep data for longer than necessary.

7. Data Security

We take reasonable and appropriate steps to protect personal data against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff confidentiality obligations, and careful selection of processors. Although no system can be guaranteed completely secure, we work to maintain a level of protection appropriate to the risk.

8. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. These rights may be subject to legal conditions and exceptions.

Right of access – you can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification – you can ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
Right to erasure – you can request deletion of your data in certain circumstances.
Right to restrict processing – you can ask us to limit how we use your data in certain cases.
Right to object – you can object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing, where applicable.
Right to data portability – you may request that certain data be provided 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 accordance with applicable law. We may need to verify your identity before acting on your request.

9. Automated Decision-Making

We do not usually make decisions about you using solely automated processing that produces legal or similarly significant effects. If this position changes, we will update this policy and provide the information required by law.

10. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adult customers and business users. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children except where it is incidental to providing a service requested by an adult customer and only where necessary.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal obligations, or data protection practices. Any revised version will apply from the date it is issued. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically so they remain informed about how personal data is handled.

12. Summary of Our Commitment

Man With A Van Bow respects your privacy and is committed to processing personal data in a lawful, transparent, and secure manner. We collect only what is needed to provide our services, rely on appropriate lawful bases, use processors carefully, keep data only as long as necessary, and support your rights under GDPR. This policy applies to all Man With A Van Bow customers in area and is designed to provide clear information about how personal data is handled throughout the customer relationship.