Privacy Policy - Croydon Removals

This Privacy Policy explains how Croydon Removals collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data in connection with our removal, relocation, packing, storage, and related services. It applies to all Croydon Removals customers in the area, including individuals, families, landlords, tenants, and businesses who use our services or contact us for a quote, booking, or support. We are committed to handling personal data in a lawful, fair, and transparent manner in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Who We Are

Croydon Removals provides removals and associated logistics services. In the course of our work, we may process personal data about customers, household members, business contacts, delivery personnel, and other individuals connected to a move. We act as a data controller for the personal data we determine the purposes and means of processing.

2. Personal Data We Collect

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

Identity data such as your name, title, and, where relevant, the names of other household or business contacts.
Contact data such as your address, email address, and telephone number.
Service and move details such as moving addresses, property access information, inventory lists, special handling requirements, parking or access instructions, and preferred dates.
Payment and billing data such as billing address, payment status, and transaction references. We do not store full card details where payment is handled by a third-party payment provider.
Communication data such as emails, call notes, messages, complaints, and feedback.
Technical data such as basic device, browser, and usage information if you interact with our digital systems or online booking tools.
Special category data only where you choose to disclose it or where it is incidentally necessary for a service request, for example information about health, mobility, or access needs that affect a move. We minimise such processing and treat it with extra care.

We generally collect personal data directly from you, but we may also receive information from third parties where this is necessary for the service, such as estate agents, landlords, solicitors, storage partners, insurers, or business representatives acting on your behalf.

3. How We Use Your Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

to provide quotes and assess service requirements;
to plan, schedule, and perform removal and related services;
to communicate with you about bookings, delays, access, and service updates;
to process payments, invoicing, and refunds;
to manage customer support, complaints, and claims;
to maintain business records and improve service quality;
to comply with legal, tax, insurance, and regulatory obligations;
to prevent fraud, misuse, or security incidents; and
to defend or establish legal rights where necessary.

We do not use personal data for automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects about you without appropriate safeguards.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

We process personal data only where we have a valid lawful basis under UK GDPR. Depending on the circumstances, our lawful bases are:

Contract — when processing is necessary to prepare for, enter into, or perform our contract with you, such as arranging a move, issuing a quote, or delivering services.
Legal obligation — when we must retain or disclose information to comply with tax, accounting, transport, insurance, or other legal requirements.
Legitimate interests — when processing is necessary for our legitimate business interests and those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms, such as maintaining records, improving services, preventing fraud, and handling claims.
Consent — where we rely on your clear consent, for example if we need to process optional special category information you voluntarily provide and no other lawful basis applies.

Where we rely on legitimate interests, we take care to assess the impact on your privacy and apply safeguards to limit unnecessary data use.

5. Sharing Your Information

We may share personal data with trusted third parties, but only where necessary and with appropriate safeguards. These third parties may act as processors or independent controllers, depending on the service they provide.

Processors we may use

IT and hosting providers that support our secure data storage, communications, and administrative systems.
Payment service providers that process transactions on our behalf.
Customer management or booking system providers that help us manage enquiries, quotes, and service records.
Professional advisers such as accountants, insurers, legal advisers, and auditors.
Storage or logistics partners where a move requires coordination with third parties.

We require processors to process personal data only on our instructions, to keep it secure, and to comply with applicable data protection law. If personal data is transferred outside the UK, we ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place.

6. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, including to satisfy legal, accounting, insurance, or reporting requirements. Retention periods depend on the type of data and the reason it was collected. As a general approach:

Customer and contract records are retained for the duration of the service relationship and for a reasonable period afterwards to manage queries, claims, and records.
Financial and tax records are retained for the period required by law.
Complaint and claims records may be kept longer where necessary to resolve disputes or defend legal claims.
Enquiry and quote data may be retained for a shorter period if no booking is made, unless longer retention is needed for legitimate business or legal reasons.

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

7. Data Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against accidental loss, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff confidentiality obligations, and restricted use of information on a need-to-know basis. While no system can be guaranteed completely secure, we take data security seriously and continuously review our safeguards.

8. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you have important rights in relation to your personal data. Subject to certain conditions and exemptions, you may have the right to:

access the personal data we hold about you;
rectify inaccurate or incomplete information;
erase your data in certain circumstances;
restrict how we use your data in certain situations;
object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing;
data portability where processing is based on consent or contract and carried out by automated means;
withdraw consent where we rely on consent, without affecting the lawfulness of prior processing; and
raise concerns about how we handle your data.

We may need to verify your identity before responding to a rights request. We aim to respond within the time limits required by law.

9. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults and business customers. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children except where it is incidentally included in move-related records provided by a parent, guardian, or responsible adult. Where such information is processed, it is handled in accordance with this Privacy Policy and only where necessary for the service.

10. Third-Party Links and Services

From time to time, you may interact with third-party services connected to payments, storage, or logistics. Their privacy practices are governed by their own policies, and we encourage you to review them. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of third parties acting independently of us.

11. 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 processing practices. Any updated version will apply from the date it is published or otherwise communicated to you. We encourage you to review this policy periodically so that you remain informed about how your personal data is handled.

12. Contact and Complaints

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, wish to exercise your rights, or are concerned about how we use your personal data, you should raise the matter with us in the usual way. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you believe your data protection rights have been infringed. We would, however, appreciate the chance to address your concerns first.

Summary statement: Croydon Removals processes personal data lawfully, securely, and only as needed to provide services, meet legal duties, and respect your rights.