Privacy Policy - London Rubbish Removal

This Privacy Policy explains how London Rubbish Removal collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data. It applies to all London Rubbish Removal customers in area, including individuals and businesses who use our waste collection, clearance, disposal, and related services. We are committed to handling personal data fairly, lawfully, and transparently in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

This policy applies when you make an enquiry, request a quote, book a service, communicate with us, or otherwise interact with our team. It also applies to anyone whose personal data we receive in connection with a booking or service request, such as property owners, tenants, landlords, contractors, or authorised representatives.

1. Data We Collect

We only collect personal data that is necessary for providing our services, managing our business, and meeting legal obligations. Depending on your interaction with us, we may collect the following categories of information:

Identity information such as your name, title, and company name.
Contact information such as address, telephone number, and email address.
Service details such as the property address, access instructions, booking notes, type and volume of waste, photographs you choose to share, and service preferences.
Payment-related information such as billing address and transaction records. We do not intentionally store full card details if payment is handled by a secure third-party payment processor.
Communications data such as emails, messages, call notes, complaint details, and correspondence history.
Technical data such as device information, browser type, IP address, and limited usage information if you interact with our digital systems.
Compliance data such as records required for waste transfer, invoicing, tax, insurance, and regulatory purposes.

We do not seek to collect special category data unless it is strictly necessary and lawfully permitted. If such data is ever provided to us unintentionally, we will handle it with appropriate safeguards and only for legitimate operational reasons.

2. How We Use Personal Data

We use personal data only for clear and legitimate purposes, including the following:

To provide quotations, schedule collections, and deliver rubbish removal services.
To confirm bookings, manage service changes, and respond to customer requests.
To process payments, issue invoices, and maintain financial records.
To communicate about service arrangements, access requirements, or site-specific instructions.
To deal with complaints, disputes, insurance matters, or claims.
To comply with legal and regulatory duties, including waste documentation and tax requirements.
To improve our services, internal processes, training, and customer experience.
To prevent fraud, misuse, or security incidents and to protect our business and customers.

We do not sell personal data. We also do not use personal data for unrelated purposes that are incompatible with the reasons it was originally collected.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under data protection law, we must have a lawful basis for each use of personal data. Depending on the context, we rely on 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 collections, managing bookings, completing the service, and handling payment or billing.

Legal Obligation

We process certain personal data because we are required to comply with legal obligations. This may include tax records, business accounting, waste transfer records, fraud prevention measures, and other regulatory requirements.

Legitimate Interests

We may process personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. These interests may include managing customer relationships, improving service quality, maintaining operational records, preventing misuse, and defending legal claims.

Consent

In limited situations, we may rely on consent, for example where it is required for specific optional communications or certain types of data use. Where we rely on consent, you have the right to withdraw it at any time. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.

4. Retention of Personal Data

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, or as long as required by law. Retention periods vary depending on the nature of the data and the purpose of processing.

Customer and service records are generally retained for the period needed to manage the relationship and for a reasonable period afterward in case of queries or disputes.
Financial and tax records are retained for the length of time required by applicable accounting and tax laws.
Waste and compliance records may be kept for the period required by environmental, transport, or regulatory obligations.
Communications and complaint records may be retained where necessary to resolve issues, demonstrate compliance, or protect legal rights.

When personal data is no longer needed, we will securely delete, anonymise, or archive it in line with our retention procedures. We review retained information periodically to ensure it remains necessary and proportionate.

5. Processors and Data Sharing

We may share personal data with trusted third parties who act as data processors or independent controllers, but only where this is necessary and lawful. These parties are required to handle data securely and only in accordance with our instructions or their own legal obligations.

IT and hosting providers who support our systems, storage, and communications.
Payment processors who handle secure payment transactions.
Accounting and bookkeeping providers who assist with invoicing, tax, and financial compliance.
Operational subcontractors who may support collection or disposal services where needed.
Professional advisers such as insurers, lawyers, auditors, or consultants when necessary for business, legal, or insurance purposes.
Public authorities and regulators where disclosure is required by law or necessary to comply with legal obligations.

Where we use processors, we take reasonable steps to ensure they provide appropriate technical and organisational security measures. We require them to protect personal data, limit access, and process information only for authorised purposes.

6. International Transfers

Where personal data is transferred outside the UK, we will only do so where appropriate safeguards are in place and where the transfer complies with applicable data protection law. Such safeguards may include adequacy regulations, standard contractual clauses, or equivalent legal protections.

7. Data Security

We use suitable security measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, accidental loss, destruction, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, encryption where appropriate, staff training, and contractual protections with processors. While no system can be guaranteed completely secure, we take data protection seriously and review our safeguards regularly.

8. Your Rights

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

Right of access – you can ask for a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification – you can request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
Right to erasure – you can ask us to delete your personal data in certain situations.
Right to restriction – you can request that we limit how we use your data in specific cases.
Right to object – you can object to processing based on legitimate interests, and in some cases to direct marketing.
Right to data portability – you can request certain data in a structured, commonly used format where technically feasible.
Right to withdraw consent – where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office if you believe your data rights have been infringed. We encourage you to contact us first so we can try to resolve concerns promptly and fairly.

9. Children’s Data

Our services are not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children except where it is incidental to a lawful service arrangement. If we become aware that we have collected data inappropriately, we will take appropriate steps to delete or protect it.

10. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in law, our services, or our data handling practices. Any revised version will take effect when published or otherwise communicated. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically to stay informed about how personal data is handled.

11. Contact and Further Information

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, your data rights, or how we process personal data, you may raise them through our usual customer service channels. We will aim to respond within a reasonable time and in accordance with applicable data protection law.

Summary of our commitment: London Rubbish Removal uses personal data only when necessary, applies a clear lawful basis, retains information for appropriate periods, works with trusted processors under protection, and respects the rights of every customer in area.