Paddington Removals Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Paddington Removals collects, uses, stores and shares personal data relating to our customers and prospective customers. It applies to all Paddington Removals customers in our service area, including individuals and businesses that contact us, request a quote, book our services, or otherwise interact with us offline or online.

Who We Are and Scope of This Policy

Paddington Removals is a removals and related services provider. In relation to the personal data described in this Privacy Policy, Paddington Removals is the data controller. This means we determine the purposes and means of processing your personal data.

This Privacy Policy applies to all personal data we process about our customers and prospective customers in our service area, including data collected through enquiries, quotations, bookings, service delivery and follow-up communications.

Personal Data We Collect

We may collect and process the following categories of personal data about you, depending on how you engage with us:

Identity and contact details: name, title, postal address, collection and delivery addresses, billing address, and other contact details such as communication preferences.

Service and booking details: dates and times of moves, property type and access information, inventory details you provide, packing requirements, storage requirements, special instructions and notes relevant to the service.

Communication data: information contained in enquiries, quotes, emails, letters, messages, feedback, complaints, and any correspondence with us.

Payment and transaction data: details of services purchased, amounts, dates of payments, method of payment, and basic billing information. We do not store full payment card details; where card payments are used, they are processed by a secure third-party payment provider.

Website and technical data: when you visit our website, we may collect technical information such as IP address, browser type, device identifiers, and usage data, for example which pages you visit and how you navigate the site. This may involve the use of cookies or similar technologies where permitted by law.

Marketing and preference data: your communication and marketing preferences, responses to surveys, participation in promotions, and records of consent where applicable.

How We Collect Your Personal Data

We collect personal data from you directly when you contact us, request a quote, make a booking, use our services, or communicate with us by phone, in person, by post, or through online forms. We may also obtain personal data from third parties, for example referral partners or online platforms where you have requested a quote for removals services, in which case you will have already provided your details for that purpose.

We may also generate personal data about you in the course of providing our services, for example notes about access arrangements, inventory lists, and service history.

Lawful Basis for Processing

We will only process your personal data when we have a lawful basis under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and related data protection laws. The main lawful bases we rely on are:

Contract: processing is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you, for example to provide quotes, confirm bookings, deliver removal services, manage payments, and respond to your requests related to the services.

Legal obligation: processing is necessary for us to comply with legal obligations, for example tax and accounting requirements, insurance and regulatory obligations, or responding to lawful requests from public authorities.

Legitimate interests: where processing is necessary for our legitimate business interests or those of a third party, and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. This includes managing and improving our services, securing our premises and systems, handling customer service, preventing fraud, and conducting limited direct marketing to existing customers.

Consent: in certain situations, we may rely on your consent, for example for specific types of direct electronic marketing where required by law, or for the optional use of certain cookies. Where we rely on consent, you have the right to withdraw it at any time.

How We Use Your Personal Data

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

To provide quotations for removals and related services, including assessing your requirements and preparing cost estimates.

To manage bookings and deliver our services, including planning routes, arranging vehicles and staff, managing packing and storage, and handling any changes or issues that arise.

To manage payments, invoicing, refunds, and accounting records.

To communicate with you, including responding to enquiries, confirming bookings, providing service updates, and handling feedback or complaints.

To improve our services, operations and customer experience, including analysing service performance, training staff, and enhancing our website and processes.

To meet legal, regulatory, tax and insurance obligations, and to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

To send you information about our services that may be of interest to you, in accordance with your marketing preferences and applicable law.

Data Sharing and Processors

We may share your personal data with third parties where necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy and where we have a lawful basis to do so. These recipients may include:

Service providers acting as data processors, such as IT and hosting providers, customer management systems, communication platforms, payment processors, and document storage providers. These providers only process your data on our instructions and under a written contract.

Insurance providers, professional advisers and auditors, where needed for insurance coverage, risk management, legal advice, accounting, or auditing.

Operational partners, for example subcontracted removal teams or storage facilities, where this is necessary to perform the services you have requested.

Public authorities, regulators, law enforcement agencies, or courts, where required by law or where necessary to protect our rights or the rights of others.

We do not sell your personal data. Where any transfer of data outside the United Kingdom or European Economic Area is necessary, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

Data Retention

We retain your personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including meeting legal, accounting or reporting requirements. When determining the appropriate retention period, we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure, the purposes for which we process it, and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means.

In general, records relating to quotes, bookings and services are kept for a period that allows us to manage our relationship with you, handle any queries or claims, and comply with tax and statutory retention obligations. After the relevant retention period expires, personal data will be securely deleted, anonymised, or archived in a way that removes personal identifiers.

Your Data Protection Rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data, subject to certain conditions and exemptions. These rights include:

Right of access: you can request confirmation that we process your personal data and obtain a copy of the data we hold about you.

Right to rectification: you can request that we correct or complete any inaccurate or incomplete personal data.

Right to erasure: in certain circumstances, you can ask us to delete your personal data, for example where it is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected or you withdraw consent where consent was the basis for processing.

Right to restriction of processing: you can request that we restrict the processing of your personal data in certain situations, for example while we verify its accuracy or consider an objection.

Right to object: you can object to processing based on our legitimate interests, including profiling related to those interests, and you can always object to direct marketing.

Right to data portability: in certain cases, you can request that we provide your personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, or that we transmit it to another controller where technically feasible.

Right to withdraw consent: where we rely on your consent for processing, you can withdraw that consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection supervisory authority if you believe that your data protection rights have been infringed.

Security of Your Personal Data

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, accidental loss, destruction or damage. These measures are proportionate to the nature of the data and the risks associated with processing. While we use reasonable efforts to protect your information, no system is completely secure and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, legal requirements or for other operational reasons. When we make material changes, we will take appropriate steps to inform you, which may include updating the date of the policy and providing a notice through our usual communication channels.

Contact and Further Information

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your personal data, or if you wish to exercise any of your data protection rights, you can contact Paddington Removals using the contact details made available on our official customer communication channels.