Privacy Policy - Hammersmith Movers

Effective Date: This Privacy Policy applies to all Hammersmith Movers customers in the area and explains how we collect, use, store, share, and protect personal data in accordance with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

We are committed to handling personal information lawfully, fairly, and transparently. This policy applies to customers, prospective customers, website users, and any other individuals whose personal data we process in connection with our moving and relocation services.

1. Who We Are

Hammersmith Movers provides removal, packing, storage coordination, and related moving services. In the course of providing these services, we may process personal data about individuals who request quotes, book services, communicate with us, or receive services from us.

2. Personal Data We Collect

We collect only the information necessary to deliver our services and manage our business responsibly. Depending on your interaction with us, we may collect the following categories of personal data:

Identity data: name, title, and, where relevant, company name.
Contact data: phone number, email address, and service address.
Booking and service data: move details, inventory information, access notes, preferred dates, and special instructions.
Payment data: billing details and transaction records. We do not store full card details where payment processing is handled by a secure third-party processor.
Communication data: correspondence with us by phone, email, or other channels.
Technical data: limited information such as IP address, browser type, and usage data if you interact with our digital services.
Special category data: in limited cases, we may receive information about accessibility needs, health considerations, or other sensitive details when required to plan and carry out a move safely. We only collect this where necessary and with appropriate safeguards.

3. How We Use Your Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

to provide quotes and manage bookings;
to plan and deliver moving services;
to communicate with you before, during, and after a move;
to arrange payments, refunds, and account administration;
to manage customer support and complaints;
to maintain records for operational, tax, and legal purposes;
to improve our services, internal processes, and customer experience;
to comply with legal and regulatory obligations;
to detect and prevent fraud, misuse, or security incidents.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

We process personal data only when we have a valid lawful basis under the GDPR. Depending on the context, our lawful basis may be one or more of the following:

Contract

We process your personal data when it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes handling quotes, bookings, move coordination, invoicing, and customer support related to the services you have requested.

Legal Obligation

We may process and retain certain information where needed to comply with legal obligations, including accounting, tax, insurance, and regulatory requirements.

Legitimate Interests

We may process personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided those interests do not override your rights and freedoms. This may include service improvement, recordkeeping, fraud prevention, and internal administration.

Consent

Where required by law, we rely on your consent. For example, if we need to process certain special category data that is not otherwise covered by another lawful basis, we will ask for your explicit consent unless another legal condition applies.

5. Sharing Your Personal Data

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

Processors may include:

IT and cloud service providers;
payment processing providers;
customer relationship and booking management systems;
accounting and invoicing platforms;
storage and logistics partners where needed to complete a move;
professional advisers such as accountants, insurers, or legal advisers;
service providers who support email, communications, and security functions.

When we use processors, they are contractually required to process data only on our instructions, keep it secure, and comply with data protection law. We do not sell your personal data.

6. International Transfers

If any personal data is transferred outside the UK, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect it. These safeguards may include adequacy regulations, standard contractual clauses, or other lawful transfer mechanisms.

7. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including to meet legal, accounting, and reporting requirements. Retention periods may vary depending on the type of data and the reason we hold it.

Booking and service records: retained for the duration of the customer relationship and for a reasonable period afterward for dispute handling, service history, and operational review.
Financial and tax records: retained for the period required by law.
Communication records: retained as needed to manage queries, complaints, and follow-up.
Technical logs: retained for security, troubleshooting, and analysis for a limited period.

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

8. Data Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, accidental loss, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure systems, staff training, and data minimisation practices. However, no system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, and we therefore encourage care when sharing information with us.

9. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you may have the following rights in relation to your personal data:

Right of access: to obtain confirmation of whether we process your data and receive a copy of it.
Right to rectification: to request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
Right to erasure: to request deletion of your data in certain circumstances.
Right to restriction: to ask us to limit processing in certain circumstances.
Right to object: to object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
Right to data portability: to request transfer of certain information in a structured, commonly used format.
Right to withdraw consent: where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

These rights are not absolute, and some requests may be limited by legal obligations or our legitimate grounds for processing. We will always assess requests carefully and respond in line with applicable law.

10. Children’s Data

Our services are not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children unless it is necessary in connection with household moving arrangements. If we become aware that we have collected data unlawfully, we will take appropriate steps to delete it.

11. Complaints and Supervisory Authority

If you have concerns about how we use your personal data, you have the right to raise a complaint with the relevant data protection authority. We encourage you to contact us first so that we can try to resolve any issues promptly and fairly.

12. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in legal requirements, our services, or how we process personal data. Any updated version will apply from the date it is published or otherwise communicated.

13. Summary of Our Commitments

Hammersmith Movers is committed to processing personal data in a way that is lawful, transparent, secure, and limited to what is necessary. We collect only the information needed to provide moving services, rely on recognised lawful bases for processing, retain data only for appropriate periods, use trusted processors under contract, and respect the rights of all customers in the area covered by this policy.

In short: we will use your personal data responsibly, protect it carefully, and treat your rights with respect.