Removal Van Barnes Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy explains how Removal Van Barnes collects, uses, stores and protects personal data relating to our customers and prospective customers in our service area. It also explains your rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act, and how you can exercise those rights.
Scope of this Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy applies to all customers and prospective customers of Removal Van Barnes in our service area, including individuals acting on behalf of businesses, landlords, tenants and agents who request or receive our removal and related services. It applies when you contact us, request a quotation, enter into a contract with us, visit our website, or otherwise interact with us.
Who we are and our role
Removal Van Barnes is the data controller for the personal data described in this Privacy Policy. This means we decide why and how your personal data is processed when we provide our services and operate our business.
Types of personal data we collect
We collect and process different types of personal data depending on how you interact with us. This may include:
Identification and contact details such as your name, postal address, pick up and delivery addresses, contact address, and any other contact details you choose to provide.
Communication details such as information you provide in emails, request forms, phone calls, messages or in person, including details of your enquiry, feedback or complaints.
Service and contract information such as service requirements, inventory details you provide for a quotation, access and parking information, dates and times of moves, and contractual documentation.
Payment and billing information such as invoice details, payment method, and records of payments made and received. We do not store full payment card numbers if payment is taken by card through a third party provider.
Website and technical data such as your IP address, browser type, pages visited, and the time and date of your visit, collected through logs and necessary cookies for security and basic functionality.
How we collect your personal data
We collect personal data directly from you when you contact us by phone, post, email, website form, or in person to request information, ask for a quotation, or book a service.
We may also collect personal data from third parties where you have authorised them to share information with us, for example letting agents, estate agents or commercial clients who book a service on your behalf.
Technical data about your use of our website may be collected automatically through server logs and necessary cookies when you access our site.
Lawful bases for processing
We process your personal data only when we have a lawful basis to do so under data protection law. Depending on the circumstances, we may rely on the following lawful bases:
Contract. We process personal data when it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes providing quotations, confirming bookings, carrying out removals, and handling payments and invoices.
Legal obligation. We may process personal data where it is necessary to comply with our legal obligations, such as tax and accounting requirements and responding to lawful requests from authorities.
Legitimate interests. We may process personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests and where your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. This includes managing our operations, improving our services, keeping records of jobs undertaken, and responding to enquiries or complaints.
Consent. In limited cases we may rely on your consent, for example where required for specific types of optional communications. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time.
Purposes for which we use personal data
We use your personal data for the following purposes:
To provide quotations and estimates for our services, including assessing the size and requirements of your move and communicating with you about potential bookings.
To enter into and perform contracts for removal and related services, including planning the job, providing vehicles and staff, and keeping you informed before, during and after the service.
To manage payments, invoicing and accounting, including issuing invoices, recording payments, managing any refunds and keeping appropriate business records.
To communicate with you, including responding to your enquiries, confirming bookings, providing updates, and handling feedback, queries or complaints.
To manage and improve our business, including service quality monitoring, staff training, job scheduling, capacity planning and general administration.
To comply with legal and regulatory requirements, such as tax, insurance, and health and safety obligations, and to cooperate with authorities where required.
To protect our rights, property and safety and those of our staff, customers and third parties, including the prevention and detection of fraud or misuse of our services.
Data sharing and processors
We do not sell your personal data. We may share your personal data with trusted third parties where necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy and where we have a lawful basis to do so.
We may share data with service providers acting as data processors who supply services to us, such as payment processing providers, accounting and bookkeeping services, information technology and hosting providers, and customer administration tools. These processors are required to act only on our instructions, keep your data secure, and comply with data protection law.
We may share personal data with professional advisers such as accountants, auditors, insurers and legal advisers where this is necessary for obtaining professional advice or managing insurance and legal matters.
We may disclose personal data to law enforcement agencies, regulators, courts or other public authorities where we are legally required to do so or where it is necessary to protect our rights, property or the safety of others.
International transfers
Where any of our service providers or their servers are located outside the United Kingdom or European Economic Area, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place before any personal data is transferred. These may include using countries that have been recognised as providing an adequate level of protection, or using contracts approved for use under data protection laws.
Data retention
We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, and to meet any legal, accounting or reporting requirements.
Enquiry and quotation data is typically retained for a period necessary to manage your enquiry and for a reasonable period afterwards in case of follow up or disputes.
Contract, service and invoicing records are usually retained for a longer period to comply with tax and accounting rules and to manage any claims or legal issues that may arise.
Technical and website usage data is retained for a period necessary to ensure the security, maintenance and proper functioning of our website and systems.
When personal data is no longer required, we will delete or anonymise it in a secure manner.
Security of your personal data
We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised or unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction or damage. These measures include limiting access to personal data to staff and service providers who need it to perform their duties, using secure systems and taking reasonable steps to ensure our suppliers protect data to similar standards.
Your data protection rights
Subject to certain conditions and exceptions set out in data protection law, you have the following rights in relation to your personal data:
The right of access. You have the right to request confirmation of whether we process your personal data and to request a copy of that data, together with information about how we use it.
The right to rectification. You have the right to ask us to correct or complete personal data that you believe is inaccurate or incomplete.
The right to erasure. In some circumstances, you have the right to request that we delete your personal data, for example where it is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was collected and we have no legal basis to retain it.
The right to restrict processing. You have the right, in certain circumstances, to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data, for example while we verify its accuracy or consider an objection.
The right to object. You may have the right to object to our processing of your personal data where we are relying on legitimate interests as our lawful basis, including profiling based on those interests.
The right to data portability. Where our processing is based on consent or contract and carried out by automated means, you have the right to request that we transfer your personal data to you or to another organisation where this is technically feasible.
The right to withdraw consent. Where we rely on your consent to process personal data, you can withdraw that consent at any time. This will not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before it was withdrawn.
Exercising your rights and complaints
If you wish to exercise any of your data protection rights, or if you have questions or concerns about how we handle your personal data, you can contact us using the contact details provided on our website or in your service documentation.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant supervisory authority for data protection if you are unhappy with how we have used your personal data. We encourage you to contact us first so that we can try to resolve your concerns.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, business practices or legal obligations. Any updated version will be made available through our usual communication channels. We recommend that you review this Privacy Policy periodically so that you remain informed about how we use your personal data.
