Privacy Policy - Man With A Van Whitechapel

This Privacy Policy explains how Man With A Van Whitechapel collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data when providing removal, transport, delivery, packing, and related services. It applies to all Man With A Van Whitechapel customers in the area, including individuals, households, landlords, tenants, businesses, and anyone arranging services on behalf of another person within Whitechapel and the surrounding locality.

We are committed to handling personal data in a lawful, fair, and transparent manner in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. This policy should be read carefully so 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. Personal Data We Collect

We collect only the information needed to provide our services effectively, safely, and legally. Depending on the nature of your booking and communication with us, we may collect the following categories of data:

Identity details such as your name and, where relevant, the name of the person or organisation booking the service.
Contact details including telephone number, email address, and service address.
Service information such as pickup and delivery addresses, access details, property type, move size, inventory notes, and preferred dates and times.
Billing and payment records including invoices, payment confirmations, and transaction references. We do not keep payment card details unless this is necessary for a secure payment process operated by a payment provider.
Communication records such as emails, messages, calls, quotes, complaints, and service feedback.
Operational records including booking history, job sheets, vehicle allocation, and staff notes required to complete the service.
Technical data where applicable, such as basic website or device information if you interact with our digital services.

We do not intentionally collect special category data unless it is provided incidentally and is necessary to deliver the service or deal with a specific request. Special category data may include information about health, disability, religion, or other sensitive matters. If such data is shared with us, we will handle it with additional care and only where there is a lawful basis to do so.

2. How We Use Your Personal Data

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

to provide quotations and manage bookings;
to plan and carry out moving, delivery, and transport services;
to confirm access requirements and safe handling needs;
to communicate about timing, service updates, delays, or changes;
to issue invoices, process payments, and maintain financial records;
to manage complaints, disputes, claims, or service issues;
to meet legal, insurance, tax, and regulatory obligations;
to improve our services, train staff, and maintain service quality;
to protect against fraud, misuse, or unlawful activity.

We only use personal data in ways that are compatible with the purpose for which it was collected, unless we reasonably determine that another lawful basis applies and the new use is compatible with the original purpose.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under data protection law, we must have a lawful basis for each processing activity. We rely on the following lawful bases:

Contract

Most of the personal data we process is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes taking your booking, providing the requested service, contacting you about the job, and processing payments.

Legal Obligation

We may process and retain certain data to comply with legal duties, including tax, accounting, insurance, and record-keeping requirements.

Legitimate Interests

We may use personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided your rights do not override those interests. This may include service management, fraud prevention, internal administration, quality control, and responding to customer inquiries. We carefully balance our interests against your privacy rights before relying on this basis.

Consent

In limited cases, we may rely on your consent, for example for certain optional communications or where sensitive information has been provided and no other lawful basis applies. When consent is used, you may withdraw it at any time. Withdrawal does not affect processing already carried out lawfully before consent was withdrawn.

Vital Interests and Public Task

These bases are unlikely to apply in normal business operations, but we may rely on them in exceptional circumstances if necessary to protect someone’s vital interests or where required by law.

4. Retention of Personal Data

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes described in this policy. Retention periods depend on the type of data, the service provided, legal obligations, and whether the information is needed to resolve disputes or enforce agreements.

Booking and service records are typically retained for a period necessary to manage the service relationship and any follow-up issues.
Financial and tax records are retained for the period required by law.
Communication records may be retained for a reasonable period to support service quality, complaint handling, and legal defence.
Sensitive or special category data, if collected, will be retained only as long as strictly necessary and then deleted or anonymised.

When data is no longer required, we will delete it securely, anonymise it, or otherwise dispose of it in a safe manner.

5. Processors and Third Parties

We may share personal data with carefully selected service providers who process data on our behalf. These parties act as processors and are only permitted to use data according to our instructions and under appropriate confidentiality and security safeguards.

Examples of processors may include:

accounting and bookkeeping providers;
payment processing services;
IT, hosting, storage, and software providers;
customer communication tools;
insurance providers and claims administrators;
professional advisers such as lawyers or auditors, where necessary.

We may also disclose data where required by law, court order, regulatory request, or to protect our rights, property, staff, customers, or the public.

We do not sell your personal data. Any sharing is limited to what is necessary for service delivery, legal compliance, or legitimate business operations.

6. Data Security

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

Although we work hard to protect your information, no method of transmission or storage is completely secure. We therefore cannot guarantee absolute security, but we continually review our safeguards and update them where appropriate.

7. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you have several rights regarding your personal data. These rights may be subject to legal limitations and exemptions. They include:

Right of access – you can ask for 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 – in certain circumstances, you can ask us to delete your data.
Right to restriction – you can ask us to limit how we use your data in some situations.
Right to object – you can object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing, where applicable.
Right to data portability – you can request certain data in a structured, commonly used format where the legal conditions are met.
Right to withdraw consent – where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

If you wish to exercise your rights, we may need to verify your identity before responding. We will respond within the time limits required by law.

8. Complaints and Supervisory Authority

If you are concerned about how we handle your personal data, we encourage you to raise the matter with us first so we can review and address it. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection supervisory authority if you believe your rights have been infringed.

9. Updates to This Policy

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

10. Scope of This Policy

This Privacy Policy applies to all Man With A Van Whitechapel customers in the area and covers personal data collected in connection with our moving, transport, and related services. By using our services, making a booking, or communicating with us, you acknowledge that your personal data may be processed as described in this policy and in accordance with applicable data protection law.

In summary, we collect only the information needed to deliver our services, use it on lawful grounds, retain it only as long as necessary, share it only with trusted processors or where legally required, and respect your rights over your information. We are committed to fair, secure, and transparent data handling at every stage.