Privacy Policy - Man With A Van Barnes

This Privacy Policy explains how Man With A Van Barnes collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data. It applies to all customers of Man With A Van Barnes in the Barnes area and to anyone who enquires about, books, or receives our services in that area. We are committed to handling personal data in a lawful, fair, transparent, and secure manner in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Who We Are

Man With A Van Barnes provides removal, transport, delivery, and related moving services. In the course of providing these services, we may need to collect and process personal data about customers, household members, business contacts, and other individuals involved in a booking. We only process personal data where it is necessary for legitimate business purposes and where a lawful basis under data protection law applies.

2. Personal Data We Collect

We collect only the information needed to arrange and complete our services, respond to enquiries, manage payments, and comply with legal duties. Depending on the service requested, this may include:

Identity details such as name and title
Contact details such as telephone number, email address, and service address
Booking information such as moving dates, collection and delivery locations, item lists, property access details, and service preferences
Payment information such as billing details and transaction records
Communication records including emails, messages, call notes, and complaints
Service-related details such as instructions, parking requirements, and any special handling needs
Technical data such as device and usage information if collected through digital systems used for administration

We do not intentionally collect special category data unless it is provided by you and is strictly necessary for the service. Special category data may include information about health, disability, religion, ethnicity, or similar sensitive matters. If such information is shared with us, we will handle it with additional care and only where required to provide safe and appropriate services.

3. How We Use Personal Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

To respond to enquiries and provide quotations
To manage bookings and deliver moving or transport services
To communicate about schedules, access arrangements, and service updates
To process payments and maintain financial records
To handle customer support, complaints, and disputes
To maintain accurate business records
To comply with legal, tax, insurance, and regulatory obligations
To protect our business, staff, contractors, and customers from fraud or misuse

We only use your data where there is a clear and lawful reason to do so. We will not use your personal data for unrelated purposes without informing you where required.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under GDPR, we must have a lawful basis before processing personal data. Man With A Van Barnes relies on the following lawful bases:

Contract

We process data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes arranging quotes, confirming bookings, carrying out the move, issuing invoices, and providing customer support related to the service.

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. This may include improving our services, maintaining records, preventing fraud, and managing operational communications.

Legal Obligation

We process data where necessary to comply with legal duties, such as tax records, accounting requirements, insurance obligations, and lawful requests from public authorities.

Consent

In limited circumstances, we may rely on your consent, for example where optional information is provided for a specific purpose and no other lawful basis applies. Where consent is used, you may withdraw it at any time.

5. Sharing Personal Data and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties who help us operate our business. These third parties act as processors when they process data on our behalf and under our instructions. Examples may include:

Payment service providers
Accounting and bookkeeping systems
IT, hosting, and software support providers
Communication service providers
Professional advisers such as insurers, accountants, or legal advisers

We may also share data where required by law, to protect our legal rights, or to prevent fraud or serious harm. Any processor we use is expected to apply appropriate security measures and to process personal data only for the purposes we specify.

We do not sell personal data. We do not allow processors to use your data for their own independent purposes.

6. International Transfers

Where personal data is transferred outside the UK or the European Economic Area, we will ensure that suitable safeguards are in place. These may include adequacy regulations, standard contractual clauses, or other lawful transfer mechanisms required under data protection law. We take reasonable steps to ensure data remains protected to an appropriate standard.

7. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purpose for which it was collected. Retention periods may vary depending on the type of data, the service provided, and legal requirements. In general:

Enquiry records may be retained for a limited period after the enquiry ends
Booking and service records may be retained for the duration of the working relationship and for a reasonable time afterwards
Invoice, payment, and tax-related records may be retained for the period required by law
Complaint and dispute records may be retained for as long as needed to resolve the matter and protect our legal position

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

8. Security of Personal Data

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to help protect personal data from unauthorised access, loss, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff confidentiality obligations, and limited access to records on a need-to-know basis. While no system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, we aim to apply reasonable and proportionate safeguards based on the nature of the data and the risks involved.

9. Your Rights Under GDPR

As a data subject, you have a number of rights regarding your personal data. Subject to legal conditions and exceptions, these may include:

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 information
Right to erasure – to request deletion of your data where there is no lawful reason to keep it
Right to restrict processing – to ask us to limit how we use your data in certain circumstances
Right to data portability – to receive certain data in a structured, commonly used format
Right to object – to object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing
Right to withdraw consent – where processing is based on consent

We will respond to valid requests within the time limits required by law. In some cases, we may need to verify your identity before acting on a request. If a request cannot be fully granted, we will explain the reason where appropriate.

10. Automated Decision-Making

Man With A Van Barnes does not use automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects about individuals, unless clearly disclosed and lawful safeguards are in place. If this position changes, we will update this policy to explain how such processing works and what rights you have.

11. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults arranging removals or transport services. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children unless it is necessary in the context of a household move or lawful booking arrangement. Where data relating to children is processed, it is handled carefully and only for legitimate service-related purposes.

12. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in law, business practices, or how we process personal data. The latest version will always apply to current processing activities. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically so they remain informed about how their data is handled.

13. Summary of Our Commitment

Man With A Van Barnes is committed to respecting privacy, using personal data responsibly, and maintaining transparency in all data processing activities. We only collect data that is necessary, use it for clear and lawful purposes, keep it for no longer than needed, and apply safeguards to protect it. This policy applies to all Man With A Van Barnes customers in the Barnes area.

By using our services, you acknowledge that your personal data may be processed in accordance with this Privacy Policy and applicable data protection law.