Privacy Policy - Man With Van Bowespark

This Privacy Policy explains how Man With Van Bowespark collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data relating to customers and prospective customers in the Bowespark area. It applies to all Man With Van Bowespark customers in the area, including anyone who enquires about, books, or receives our moving and van services. We are committed to handling personal information in a lawful, fair, and transparent way in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Who We Are

For the purposes of data protection law, Man With Van Bowespark acts as the data controller for the personal data described in this policy. This means we decide why and how your personal information is processed when you use our services, contact us, or otherwise interact with us in connection with a move, collection, delivery, or related service.

2. Personal Data We Collect

We collect only the information we need to provide and manage our services effectively. The personal data we may collect includes:

Identity information such as your name and title.
Contact details such as phone number, email address, and address information.
Service details relating to your moving requirements, dates, property access information, inventory, and special handling instructions.
Payment and billing information where necessary to process charges, issue invoices, and record transactions.
Communication records such as messages, call notes, complaints, and feedback.
Technical information that may be collected when you interact with our digital systems, including basic device and usage data if relevant to service management or security.

We do not intentionally collect special category data unless it is strictly necessary and you have provided it yourself or it is required for a specific legal or operational purpose. Special category data may include information about health, religion, race, or other sensitive personal characteristics. If such information is ever needed for safe delivery of a service, it will be handled with additional care and only where permitted by law.

3. How We Use Your Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

To respond to enquiries and provide quotations.
To arrange, manage, and complete moving services.
To communicate about scheduling, access, service changes, or issues affecting the job.
To process payments, create invoices, and maintain accurate financial records.
To protect our business, customers, and staff from fraud, misuse, or security incidents.
To handle complaints, disputes, and service improvement.
To comply with legal and regulatory obligations.

We only use data in ways that are compatible with the reasons it was collected. When possible, we keep the information minimal and limit access to those who need it for legitimate business purposes.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under data protection law, we must have a lawful basis to process personal data. Depending on the situation, we rely 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 preparing quotations, confirming bookings, carrying out your move, and managing post-service administration.

Legal Obligation

We process certain information where required to meet legal obligations, such as accounting, tax, insurance, and record-keeping responsibilities.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data where it is necessary for our legitimate interests, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. This may include managing our business efficiently, improving services, preventing fraud, and ensuring the safety and security of staff, vehicles, and property.

Consent

In limited situations, we may rely on your consent, for example where you voluntarily provide information that is not otherwise required for service delivery. Where consent is used, you may withdraw it at any time. This will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

5. Sharing and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties where necessary to run our services. These third parties act either as independent controllers or as processors acting on our instructions.

Examples of processors may include:

IT and hosting providers that store or support our records and communication systems.
Accounting and bookkeeping providers that help us manage financial records and invoicing.
Payment service providers that process payments securely.
Administrative support providers that assist with scheduling, document management, or customer service functions.

Where we use processors, we ensure appropriate data processing terms are in place so your data is handled securely, confidentially, and only for the agreed purpose.

We may also disclose data if required by law, court order, or a lawful request from a public authority, or where necessary to protect our rights, property, staff, customers, or the public.

6. International Transfers

In some cases, service providers may process data outside the United Kingdom. If this happens, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your information to an equivalent standard, such as adequacy regulations or approved contractual protections.

7. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including satisfying legal, accounting, insurance, and reporting requirements. Retention periods vary depending on the type of record and the purpose of processing.

Enquiry records are kept for a limited period if no booking follows, to manage follow-up communication and internal administration.
Booking and service records are retained for as long as needed to complete the service and handle post-service queries or disputes.
Financial and tax records are retained for the period required by law.
Complaint or claim records may be kept longer where necessary to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

When data is no longer needed, we will securely delete, anonymise, or archive it in line with our retention practices.

8. Data Security

We use reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, limited permissions, and careful handling of customer records. While no system can be guaranteed completely secure, we work to maintain appropriate protection based on the nature of the data we process.

9. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. Subject to legal limits, 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 in certain circumstances.
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, and to direct marketing where applicable.
Right to data portability – to receive certain data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format where applicable.
Right to withdraw consent – where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, we will respond within the time limits set by law and may need to verify your identity before taking action. Some rights may not apply in every situation, but we will always explain our position clearly.

10. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults arranging moving and transport services. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children unless it is incidentally provided in connection with a household move and only where necessary for the service. If we become aware that we have collected information from a child inappropriately, we will take reasonable steps to delete it.

11. Changes to This Policy

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

12. Complaints

If you have concerns about how your personal data is used, you should raise them with us so we can review the matter and respond appropriately. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK data protection authority if you believe your data protection rights have been infringed.

13. Summary of Key Points

This policy explains how Man With Van Bowespark handles personal information for customers in the area. In summary, we:

collect only the data needed to provide moving services and manage our business;
use data on lawful bases including contract, legal obligation, legitimate interests, and consent where needed;
share data only with trusted processors and other parties when necessary and lawful;
keep data only for as long as it is needed;
respect your rights under GDPR and related UK data protection law.

By using our services, making an enquiry, or booking with Man With Van Bowespark, you acknowledge that your personal data may be processed in accordance with this Privacy Policy.