Storage Beckenham Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy explains how Storage Beckenham collects, uses and protects personal data relating to our customers and prospective customers in the Beckenham area. It is intended to comply with the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018. This policy applies to all individuals who enquire about, use, or have used storage or related services provided by Storage Beckenham.
Scope and Data Controller
Storage Beckenham is the data controller for the personal data described in this Privacy Policy. This means that we determine the purposes and means of processing your personal data. This policy applies to all Storage Beckenham customers, including business and residential customers, in the Beckenham area and surrounding locations where our services are offered.
Types of Personal Data We Collect
We may collect and process the following categories of personal data:
Identification information such as full name, title, date of birth and proof of identity details as required for account setup and verification.
Contact information such as home or business address, billing address and any other address you provide for correspondence, as well as non electronic contact details where relevant.
Account information such as customer reference numbers, storage unit numbers, contract details, move in and move out dates, payment history and communications relating to your account.
Payment and billing information such as billing name and address, payment method details and transaction records. We do not store full card details where payments are processed through secure third party payment processors.
Usage information such as access records for our facilities, records of enquiries, complaints or feedback, and information about the services and options you have selected.
Technical information such as device and usage information when you visit our website, including log data and similar information collected through cookies or similar technologies, where applicable and permitted by law.
How We Collect Your Data
We collect personal data directly from you when you request a quote, make an enquiry, sign a storage agreement, make a payment, contact us by any communication method, or use our services and facilities.
We may also collect data indirectly from third parties, for example from payment processors when a payment is made, from reference or credit checking agencies where used, or from business partners involved in facilitating your use of our services.
Lawful Bases for Processing
We only process your personal data when we have a lawful basis to do so under UK GDPR. The main lawful bases we rely on are:
Contract: We process personal data that is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you, including to set up and administer your storage agreement, arrange access and security, process payments and communicate with you about your account.
Legal obligation: We process personal data when necessary to comply with legal and regulatory obligations, such as maintaining accounting records, complying with tax obligations, preventing fraud and responding to lawful requests from authorities.
Legitimate interests: We process personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided these interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. Examples include facility security and access control, service improvement, handling queries and complaints, and defending our legal rights.
Consent: In some limited situations, we may rely on your consent, for example for certain types of marketing communications where consent is required. Where consent is used, you have the right to withdraw it at any time.
Purposes for Which We Use Personal Data
We use your personal data for the following purposes:
To provide and manage storage and related services, including creating and administering your customer account, processing bookings, allocating units and managing access.
To process payments, issue invoices and statements, manage arrears and handle refunds where applicable.
To maintain the safety and security of our facilities, staff, customers and property, which may include access logs, verification checks and security monitoring where in place.
To communicate with you about your account, contract changes, service updates, notices about your storage unit and other important information.
To respond to your enquiries, requests, feedback and complaints, and to provide customer support.
To comply with applicable laws, regulations and guidance, and to respond to lawful requests from regulatory or law enforcement bodies.
To protect our legitimate interests, including the prevention of fraud or misuse of our services, the recovery of debts, and the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.
Data Retention
We keep personal data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, and in line with legal and regulatory requirements.
Customer account and contract data are generally retained for the duration of your agreement with us and for a period afterwards to comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes and enforce our agreements. Financial and transaction records are usually retained for a period consistent with tax and accounting requirements.
Information collected for enquiries that do not lead to a contract is kept for a shorter period, only as long as reasonably necessary to handle your enquiry and maintain business records.
When personal data is no longer required, we will securely delete or anonymise it in accordance with our data retention procedures.
Data Processors and Third Parties
We may share your personal data with carefully selected third parties who act as data processors on our behalf. These include:
Payment processing providers who handle card and electronic payments.
Information technology and system support providers who host or maintain our systems, software, or data storage solutions.
Professional advisers such as accountants, auditors or legal advisers, where necessary for legitimate business and compliance purposes.
Service providers who support our operations, such as document storage or disposal providers.
These processors are only permitted to process your personal data in accordance with our instructions, for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, and are required to implement appropriate security measures to protect your data.
We may also share data with other third parties acting as independent controllers where required by law, such as regulatory bodies or law enforcement agencies, or where necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.
International Data Transfers
Where personal data is transferred outside the United Kingdom, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your data, such as the use of standard contractual clauses or other legal mechanisms approved for international data transfers, in accordance with UK data protection law.
Security Measures
We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure or access. These measures include access controls, secure storage, staff training and procedures designed to maintain the confidentiality and integrity of your data.
Your Data Protection Rights
Under UK GDPR, individuals have a number of rights in relation to their personal data. Subject to certain conditions and exemptions, you have the right to:
Access: Request confirmation that we process your personal data and obtain a copy of that data.
Rectification: Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal data that we hold about you.
Erasure: Request deletion of your personal data where there is no good reason for us to continue processing it, for example where it is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected and we have no overriding legitimate interest or legal obligation to retain it.
Restriction: Request that we restrict the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances, for example while we verify its accuracy or our reasons for processing it.
Objection: Object to our processing of your personal data where we rely on legitimate interests as the lawful basis. We will cease processing unless we have compelling legitimate grounds which override your interests, rights and freedoms, or the processing is for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.
Data portability: Request that certain personal data you have provided to us is transferred to you or to another controller in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format, where the processing is based on consent or contract and carried out by automated means.
Withdraw consent: Where we rely on your consent to process personal data, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal of consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before the withdrawal.
How to Exercise Your Rights
If you wish to exercise any of your data protection rights, please contact us using your usual communication methods with Storage Beckenham, clearly stating your request and providing sufficient information to allow us to verify your identity. We may need to request additional information to confirm your identity before fulfilling your request.
We aim to respond to all valid requests within one month. In some cases, particularly where requests are complex or numerous, this period may be extended in line with legal requirements. Where we are unable to comply with your request, we will explain the reasons.
Complaints and Supervisory Authority
If you have concerns about how Storage Beckenham handles your personal data, we encourage you to raise them with us first so that we can try to resolve them. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK data protection supervisory authority if you believe your data protection rights have been infringed.
Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, legal requirements or other factors. Any changes will take effect from the date the revised policy is made available. We recommend that you review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we process your personal data.
