Privacy Policy - Man With A Van Elephant And Castle

Last updated: July 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how Man With A Van Elephant And Castle collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data when providing moving, removal, delivery, and related services. It applies to all Man With A Van Elephant And Castle customers in the area, including individuals, households, landlords, tenants, and business customers who use our services within our operating area.

We are committed to handling personal data in a lawful, fair, and transparent way in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. This policy is written to help you understand what information we collect, why we collect it, how long we keep it, and what rights you have.

1. Personal Data We Collect

We only collect data that is relevant and necessary for arranging and carrying out our services, managing bookings, meeting legal obligations, and improving our business operations. Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect the following categories of personal data:

Identity data: name, title, and any information needed to verify who you are.
Contact data: address, email address, and telephone number.
Booking and service data: moving date, pickup and delivery addresses, inventory details, access instructions, and service preferences.
Payment data: payment status, billing details, and transaction records. We do not store full card details when payments are processed by secure payment providers.
Communication data: records of emails, messages, telephone notes, complaints, and feedback.
Operational data: photographs or notes taken before, during, or after a move where needed for service completion, damage records, or dispute resolution.
Technical data: basic website or device information if you browse our online pages, such as IP address, browser type, and cookies where applicable.

We do not intentionally collect special category data unless it is necessary and you have provided it for a specific reason, such as accessibility requirements. Where such data is processed, we do so only with additional protection and a lawful basis permitted by law.

2. How We Use Your Data

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

to respond to enquiries and provide quotations;
to manage bookings and plan removals or van services;
to communicate about timings, access, delays, or service changes;
to complete payments and issue invoices or receipts;
to record service history and maintain accurate business records;
to handle complaints, claims, and disputes;
to meet legal, tax, accounting, and insurance obligations;
to improve service quality, training, and operational efficiency;
to prevent fraud, misuse, or unauthorised access to our systems or services.

We will not use your personal data for purposes that are incompatible with those stated here unless we have a lawful basis to do so and, where required, we have notified you.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under UK GDPR, we must have a lawful basis to process personal data. The lawful bases we rely on include:

Contract

We process personal data where it is necessary to perform a contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract. This includes preparing quotes, confirming bookings, organising transport, and carrying out removal services.

Legal Obligation

We may process and retain data where it is necessary to comply with legal requirements, such as accounting rules, tax records, insurance requirements, and lawful requests from public authorities.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data for our legitimate business interests, provided these are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. This can include managing operations, improving services, preventing fraud, maintaining security, and keeping business records. We assess these interests carefully and only process data where necessary and proportionate.

Consent

In limited cases, we may rely on your consent, for example where you agree to receive certain marketing communications or where optional information is requested for a specific purpose. You may withdraw consent at any time, without affecting processing that took place before withdrawal.

4. Sharing Your Data and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties where necessary to operate our services, meet legal duties, or protect our business. These third parties act as processors or, in some cases, independent controllers.

Processors may include:

payment processors that handle secure card or online payments;
accountants and bookkeeping providers;
IT support, cloud storage, and data hosting providers;
communication platforms used for emails, phone systems, and customer records;
software providers used for scheduling, invoicing, route planning, or customer management;
professional advisers, such as insurers, legal advisers, or claims handlers where needed.

We require processors to act only on our instructions, keep data secure, and comply with data protection law. Where personal data is transferred outside the UK, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as adequacy regulations or standard contractual clauses, as required by law.

We may also disclose data if necessary to comply with the law, enforce our terms, protect our rights, or prevent crime, fraud, or security incidents.

5. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including legal, accounting, and reporting obligations. Retention periods depend on the type of data and the reason for processing.

Quotation and enquiry records: kept for a limited period if no booking follows, usually to manage follow-up and service history.
Booking and invoice records: kept for the period required by accounting and tax laws.
Communication and complaint records: kept as long as needed to resolve issues and demonstrate service handling.
Claims and dispute records: kept until the matter is concluded and any limitation period has expired.
Technical records: kept for short periods unless required for security, troubleshooting, or legal reasons.

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

6. Data Security

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

While no system can be guaranteed completely secure, we regularly review our safeguards and update them where necessary to reduce risk.

7. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you have rights regarding your personal data. These rights may apply in different circumstances and can be subject to legal limits. Your rights 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 data.
Right to erasure: to request deletion of your data where there is no legal reason for us to keep it.
Right to restrict processing: to ask us to limit how we use your data in certain situations.
Right to object: to object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
Right to data portability: to request transfer of certain data in a usable format where applicable.
Right to withdraw consent: where processing is based on consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, we will respond in accordance with legal requirements. We may need to verify your identity before processing your request.

8. Marketing Communications

If we send you marketing messages, we will do so only where permitted by law. You can opt out of marketing at any time. Service-related messages, such as booking confirmations or updates about an existing job, are not marketing and may still be necessary to provide the service.

9. Complaints and Supervisory Authority

If you are unhappy with how we handle your personal data, you should contact us so we can try to resolve the issue. You also have the right to raise a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection matters.

10. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal requirements, or data handling practices. Any updated version will apply from the date it is published. We encourage you to review this policy periodically so that you remain informed about how your data is used.

In summary: Man With A Van Elephant And Castle processes personal data only when necessary, uses it for legitimate service and legal purposes, shares it with trusted processors under contract, retains it for appropriate periods, and respects the rights of all customers in the area.