Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Moving Cheese Removal Ltd (trading as "MC Removal" and "mcremoval"), registered in England and Wales, is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and share your personal data when you use our website at https://mcremoval.com, our mobile applications, or any of our removal and moving services.

For the purposes of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018, the data controller is Moving Cheese Removal Ltd. We take our responsibilities under these regulations seriously and have implemented appropriate measures to ensure your data is handled lawfully, fairly, and transparently.

By using our website or services, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with any part of this policy, please do not use our services.

2. Personal Data We Collect

We collect and process the following categories of personal data depending on how you interact with our services:

2.1 Information You Provide Directly

Identity data: Full name, title, date of birth (where required for identity verification).
Contact data: Email address, telephone number(s), postal address, collection address, and delivery address.
Account data: Username, password (encrypted), account preferences, and communication preferences.
Financial data: Payment card details, bank account information, and billing address. Note: Full payment card numbers are processed by our PCI-DSS-compliant payment processors and are never stored on our servers.
Service data: Details about your move, including property type, inventory of items, special requirements, preferred moving dates, and any additional services requested.
Communication data: Records of correspondence with us, including emails, live chat transcripts, telephone call recordings (where you are informed), and contact form submissions.

2.2 Information Collected Automatically

Technical data: IP address, browser type and version, operating system, device type, screen resolution, and time zone setting.
Usage data: Pages visited, links clicked, time spent on pages, referring website, search terms used, and other browsing behaviour on our website.
Location data: Approximate geographical location derived from your IP address. We do not collect precise GPS data unless you explicitly grant permission for live tracking features.
Cookie data: Information collected through cookies and similar tracking technologies. Please see our Cookie Policy for full details.

2.3 Information from Third Parties

Partner data: If you are introduced to us through one of our removal partners, they may share your contact details and service requirements with us.
Payment verification data: Our payment processors may share transaction confirmation data with us.
Publicly available data: Information from Companies House, electoral registers, or other public sources for fraud prevention and identity verification purposes.

3. How We Use Your Data

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

3.1 Service Delivery

Processing and fulfilling your removal or moving service booking.
Generating and providing quotes based on your requirements.
Matching you with appropriate vetted removal partners from our network.
Coordinating logistics including scheduling, route planning, and resource allocation.
Providing real-time tracking of your move when available.
Processing payments and issuing invoices and receipts.

3.2 Communication

Sending booking confirmations, updates, and reminders via email and SMS.
Responding to your enquiries, complaints, and support requests.
Sending service-related notifications (e.g., driver en route, delivery completed).
Requesting feedback and reviews after service completion.

3.3 Marketing (with Your Consent)

Sending promotional emails about our services, special offers, and seasonal discounts.
Personalising marketing communications based on your service history and preferences.
You may opt out of marketing communications at any time by clicking the "unsubscribe" link in any marketing email or by contacting us directly.

3.4 Service Improvement

Analysing website usage patterns to improve our platform's functionality and user experience.
Conducting internal research and analytics to improve our pricing, service quality, and operational efficiency.
Training and quality assurance purposes (e.g., reviewing call recordings).

3.5 Legal and Regulatory Compliance

Complying with applicable laws, regulations, and legal processes.
Detecting, preventing, and addressing fraud, security breaches, or other harmful activity.
Enforcing our Terms of Service and other contractual agreements.
Responding to lawful requests from public authorities, including law enforcement.

4. Legal Basis for Processing

Under the UK GDPR, we must have a valid legal basis for processing your personal data. We rely on the following bases depending on the specific processing activity:

Legal Basis	Processing Activities
Contract Performance	Processing bookings, generating quotes, arranging removal services, processing payments, and communicating about your service. This processing is necessary to fulfil our contractual obligations to you.
Legitimate Interest	Improving our services, website analytics, fraud prevention, internal administration, and ensuring network and information security. We have assessed that these interests do not override your fundamental rights and freedoms.
Consent	Sending marketing communications, using non-essential cookies, and processing any special category data. You may withdraw your consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.
Legal Obligation	Retaining financial records for tax and accounting purposes, responding to regulatory enquiries, and complying with court orders or other legal obligations.

5. Data Sharing

We do not sell your personal data to third parties. We may share your data with the following categories of recipients only as necessary for the purposes described in this policy:

5.1 Removal Partners and Drivers

When you book a removal service, we share relevant details (your name, contact information, addresses, moving date, inventory, and special instructions) with the vetted partner driver or removal team assigned to your booking. This sharing is essential to deliver your requested service. All partners are contractually obligated to handle your data securely and only for the purpose of completing your move.

5.2 Payment Processors

We use PCI-DSS-compliant third-party payment processors to handle all financial transactions. Your payment card information is transmitted directly to these processors via encrypted connections and is never stored on our servers. Our current payment processor is Stripe.

5.3 Technology Service Providers

We engage trusted third-party providers for hosting, email delivery, analytics, and customer support tools. These providers act as data processors on our behalf and are bound by contractual obligations to process your data only on our instructions and to maintain appropriate security measures.

5.4 Legal and Regulatory Authorities

We may disclose your personal data to law enforcement agencies, regulatory bodies, or other third parties where we are legally required to do so, or where disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, property, or the safety of our users or the public.

5.5 Business Transfers

In the event that Moving Cheese Removal Ltd is involved in a merger, acquisition, restructuring, or sale of assets, your personal data may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you of any such transfer and of any changes to applicable privacy terms.

6. Data Retention

We retain your personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by law. The following retention periods apply:

Data Type	Retention Period
Account data	Duration of your account plus 2 years after closure or last activity
Booking and service data	6 years from the date of service completion (in line with UK limitation periods)
Financial and payment data	7 years from the date of transaction (HMRC requirements)
Marketing consent records	Duration of consent plus 1 year after withdrawal
Quote data (not converted)	12 months from the date of the quote
Customer support records	3 years from the date of resolution
Website analytics data	26 months (anonymised and aggregated)

When data is no longer required, it is securely deleted or anonymised so that it can no longer be associated with you.

7. Your Rights Under GDPR

Under the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018, you have the following rights regarding your personal data. These rights are not absolute and may be subject to certain conditions and exemptions:

1

Right of Access

You have the right to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you. We will respond to your request within one calendar month and provide the information free of charge, unless the request is manifestly unfounded or excessive.

2

Right to Rectification

You have the right to request that we correct any inaccurate personal data we hold about you, or complete any incomplete data. You can also update many details directly through your account dashboard.

3

Right to Erasure ("Right to Be Forgotten")

You have the right to request that we delete your personal data where there is no compelling reason for us to continue processing it. Please note that we may need to retain certain data for legal or contractual obligations.

4

Right to Restrict Processing

You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances, such as when you contest the accuracy of the data or object to our processing.

5

Right to Data Portability

You have the right to receive the personal data you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format (such as CSV or JSON), and to transmit that data to another controller.

6

Right to Object

You have the right to object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest, and where there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object. You also have an absolute right to object to direct marketing at any time.

7

Right to Withdraw Consent

Where we are relying on consent to process your personal data, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. This does not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at info@mcremoval.com. We will respond to your request within one calendar month. If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.

8. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

Our website uses cookies and similar tracking technologies to enhance your browsing experience, analyse website traffic, and personalise content. Cookies are small text files placed on your device when you visit our website.

We use the following types of cookies:

Essential cookies: Required for the website to function properly, including session management, CSRF protection, and authentication.
Analytics cookies: Help us understand how visitors interact with our website by collecting anonymised usage data.
Functional cookies: Remember your preferences and settings to provide a more personalised experience.

For comprehensive details about the specific cookies we use, their purposes, and their durations, as well as instructions on how to manage or disable cookies, please refer to our dedicated Cookie Policy.

9. Data Security

We take the security of your personal data seriously and have implemented appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect it against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These measures include:

Encryption: All data transmitted between your browser and our servers is encrypted using TLS/SSL (HTTPS). Sensitive data at rest is encrypted using industry-standard AES-256 encryption.
Access controls: Access to personal data is restricted to authorised personnel on a need-to-know basis. All staff with access to personal data receive regular data protection training.
Infrastructure security: Our servers are hosted in secure, ISO 27001-certified data centres within the United Kingdom. We employ firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and regular security audits.
Password security: All user passwords are hashed using bcrypt and are never stored in plain text.
Regular testing: We conduct regular vulnerability assessments and penetration testing to identify and address potential security weaknesses.
Incident response: We maintain a data breach response plan and will notify affected individuals and the ICO within 72 hours of becoming aware of a qualifying data breach, as required by the UK GDPR.

While we implement robust security measures, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is completely secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security, but we are committed to continually improving our security practices.

10. International Data Transfers

We primarily store and process your personal data within the United Kingdom. However, some of our third-party service providers may be located outside the UK. Where we transfer your data outside the UK, we ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place, including:

Transfers to countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of data protection by the UK Government.
Use of the UK International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTA) or the EU-approved Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) with the UK addendum.
Binding corporate rules approved by the relevant supervisory authority.

You may contact us to obtain further information about the specific safeguards applied to any international transfers of your personal data.

11. Children's Privacy

Our services are not directed at individuals under the age of 18, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you are a parent or guardian and you believe your child has provided us with personal data, please contact us at info@mcremoval.com, and we will take steps to delete such data from our systems.

12. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or other factors. When we make material changes, we will:

Update the "Last updated" date at the top and bottom of this page.
Post the revised policy on our website.
Where appropriate, notify you by email or through a prominent notice on our website.

We encourage you to review this policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your personal data.