Privacy Policy - Movers Paddington

This Privacy Policy explains how Movers Paddington collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data when providing removal and moving services. It applies to all Movers Paddington customers in the area, including individuals, households, landlords, tenants, and businesses using our services.

We are committed to handling personal information 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 sets out what information we collect, why we collect it, how long we keep it, who may process it on our behalf, and the rights available to you.

1. Who We Are

For the purposes of data protection law, Movers Paddington acts as the data controller for the personal information we collect in connection with our services. This means we determine the purposes and means of processing personal data related to enquiries, bookings, quotations, removals, storage arrangements, and customer support.

2. Personal Data We Collect

We may collect and process the following categories of personal data:

Identity details: name, title, and, where needed, company name.
Contact details: billing address, service address, email address, and telephone number.
Booking and service details: move date, property access information, inventory lists, special handling instructions, and service preferences.
Payment and transaction data: records of payments, invoices, refunds, and payment status. We do not store full card details unless required by a secure payment provider.
Communication data: emails, written correspondence, call notes, complaint records, and customer feedback.
Technical data: limited information such as device, browser, and usage data if you interact with our digital systems.
Verification data: where necessary, identification documents or proof of address for fraud prevention, security, or service verification.

We generally collect this information directly from you when you request a quote, make a booking, complete forms, speak with our team, or otherwise use our services. In some cases, we may also receive data from third parties such as landlords, agents, employers, insurers, or payment providers where this is necessary for service delivery.

3. How We Use Personal Data

We use personal data only when we have a lawful basis to do so. Our purposes include:

providing quotations and assessing service requirements;
managing bookings, scheduling, and delivery of removal services;
communicating with customers about appointments, changes, and service updates;
processing payments, issuing invoices, and maintaining accounts;
handling complaints, claims, disputes, and customer support requests;
meeting legal, regulatory, tax, accounting, and insurance obligations;
protecting against fraud, misuse, and security incidents;
improving our operational planning, internal record-keeping, and service quality.

We do not use personal data for purposes that are incompatible with the reason it was collected unless permitted by law or with your consent.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under UK GDPR, 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 providing quotes, arranging and completing removals, handling payments, and communicating about the services you have requested.

Legal Obligation

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

Legitimate Interests

We may process data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests and where those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. Examples include improving service delivery, preventing fraud, maintaining secure records, and managing internal administration.

Consent

Where required, we rely on your consent, for example for certain optional communications or specific uses not covered by another lawful basis. You may withdraw consent at any time, and such withdrawal will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

5. Sharing Data and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties who act as processors on our behalf or, in limited circumstances, as independent controllers. These third parties are only permitted to use your data in accordance with our instructions or their own legal obligations.

Payment processors: to handle secure payment transactions.
IT and cloud service providers: to host systems, store data, and support business operations.
Accounting and bookkeeping providers: to manage invoices, financial records, and compliance.
Customer communication tools: to send service-related messages and maintain records.
Insurance providers and claims handlers: where a claim, incident, or liability matter arises.
Professional advisers: including legal and financial advisers where necessary.
Regulators, law enforcement, or public authorities: where disclosure is required by law.

We require processors to implement appropriate technical and organisational security measures. Where a processor is engaged, we aim to ensure that a data processing agreement is in place and that the processor only acts on our documented instructions.

6. International Transfers

If any personal data is transferred outside the UK, we will ensure appropriate safeguards are in place. These may include adequacy regulations, standard contractual clauses, or equivalent legal mechanisms designed to protect your personal data to an appropriate standard.

7. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, and to meet our legal and operational requirements. Retention periods may vary depending on the type of data and the nature of the service.

Quotation and enquiry data: kept for a limited period after the enquiry ends if no booking is made, to manage follow-up and record accuracy.
Customer contract and service records: retained for the duration of the service relationship and for a period afterwards to address complaints, disputes, and warranty or liability issues.
Accounting and tax records: retained in line with legal obligations.
Claims and incident records: retained for as long as necessary to manage the claim and related legal obligations.
Consent records: kept until consent is withdrawn or the data is no longer needed.

When data is no longer required, we will securely delete, anonymise, or destroy it.

8. Data Security

We take the security of personal data seriously and use appropriate safeguards to protect against unauthorised access, accidental loss, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include restricted access controls, secure storage, staff confidentiality obligations, and regular review of our processes. While no system can be guaranteed completely secure, we work to maintain a level of protection appropriate to the risks involved.

9. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. These rights may be subject to legal limits or exceptions depending on the circumstances.

Right of access: you may request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification: you may ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
Right to erasure: you may request deletion of your data in certain situations.
Right to restriction: you may ask us to limit how we use your data in certain cases.
Right to object: you may object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
Right to data portability: where applicable, you may ask for your data in a structured, commonly used format.
Right to withdraw consent: where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, we will consider your request in line with applicable law. We may need to verify your identity before acting on the request.

10. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults arranging removals or related services. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children unless it is incidental to providing services requested by an adult customer and is necessary for the relevant arrangement.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in law, regulation, operational practices, or service requirements. The most current version will apply to your use of our services. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect personal data.

12. Scope of This Policy

This Privacy Policy applies to all Movers Paddington customers in area and covers personal data processed in connection with enquiries, quotations, bookings, removals, storage, billing, support, and associated business activities. By using our services, you acknowledge that your personal information may be processed as described in this policy.

We are committed to respecting your privacy and handling your data responsibly, transparently, and lawfully.