Storage Barnet Privacy Policy for Customers
This Privacy Policy explains how Storage Barnet collects, uses, stores and protects personal data relating to customers within the Storage Barnet service area. It also describes your rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018. By becoming a customer of Storage Barnet or using our storage services, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy.
Scope of this Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy applies to all Storage Barnet customers in our operating area, including individuals, sole traders and representatives of corporate clients who enquire about, contract for, or use our storage facilities and related services. It covers personal data collected online, in person at our storage sites and through any other communication channels we use.
Data Controller
Storage Barnet is the data controller in respect of the personal data we collect and process about you. As data controller, we are responsible for deciding how we use your information and for ensuring that your data is handled in accordance with applicable data protection laws.
Personal Data We Collect
We only collect personal data that is relevant for the management and provision of our storage services, for safety and security, and for running our business. The information we may collect includes:
Identification details such as full name, title, date of birth and proof of identity details shown on documents such as a passport or driving licence, where required for verification and security.
Contact details such as home or business address, billing address, and other correspondence addresses you provide, along with your preferred communication methods.
Account and contract information such as unit number, contract start and end dates, pricing, payment status, correspondence relating to your booking or contract, and details of services you have purchased from us.
Payment and billing information such as payment method, billing history and records of transactions. We do not store full card details where payment is processed by a secure third party provider.
Security and access information such as vehicle registration plate details you choose to register, access codes, sign-in and sign-out records, and closed circuit television footage recorded on and around our premises, where in operation.
Communication records including emails, letters and notes from telephone calls or in-person conversations, customer service requests, feedback you provide, and any complaints or dispute correspondence.
How We Collect Your Data
We collect personal data directly from you when you enquire about our services, request a quotation, visit our premises, sign a storage agreement, make a payment, or contact us with a question or complaint. We may also generate information internally, such as access logs or account history, as you use our storage services.
Lawful Bases for Processing
We process your personal data only where we have a lawful basis to do so. Depending on the context, we may rely on the following lawful bases:
Contract: we process your data to take steps at your request before entering into a contract and to perform our contractual obligations to you. This includes setting up and managing your storage unit, billing and payments, and maintaining records of your agreement.
Legal obligation: we process certain information to comply with legal and regulatory requirements, such as record keeping, tax and accounting rules, and security or crime prevention obligations that apply to our business.
Legitimate interests: we may process your data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests or those of a third party, and where these interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. This can include maintaining site security and safety, managing and improving our services, preventing fraud and misuse of our facilities, and responding to queries and complaints.
Consent: in limited cases, we may rely on your consent, for example where we send certain types of optional marketing communications. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.
How We Use Your Personal Data
We use your personal data for the following purposes:
To provide storage services to you, including creating and managing your customer account, administering your storage unit, verifying your identity where necessary, and facilitating access to the premises.
To manage our relationship with you, including handling enquiries, providing customer support, communicating important information about your contract, and dealing with any complaints, billing issues or disputes.
To process payments, issue invoices, and maintain accurate accounting and financial records in line with legal and regulatory requirements.
To ensure the safety and security of our customers, staff and premises, including through access controls, visitor logs and the operation of closed circuit television systems where in use.
To protect our legal rights, enforce our terms and conditions, prevent fraud and misuse of our facilities, and manage or defend legal claims.
To conduct internal reporting, service development and business planning, using aggregated or minimised data where possible to reduce privacy impact.
Data Processors and Sharing of Personal Data
We may share your personal data with trusted third parties who act as data processors on our behalf. These processors only process your data under our instructions and for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. They are required to keep your data secure and to comply with data protection legislation.
Typical categories of processors include payment processing companies and banking providers that handle payments and refunds, information technology and cloud service providers that store data and support our systems, and security service providers that support access control or closed circuit television operations where used.
We may also share your data with professional advisers such as lawyers, auditors and insurers where necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims or for compliance and auditing purposes. In certain circumstances we may be legally obliged to share personal data with public authorities, law enforcement agencies, regulatory bodies or courts.
We do not sell your personal data to third parties.
International Data Transfers
If we transfer personal data to processors or other recipients located outside the United Kingdom, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place, such as an adequacy decision or standard contractual clauses, in order to protect your data to a standard equivalent to that in the United Kingdom.
Data Retention
We retain your personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes described in this Privacy Policy and to meet any legal, accounting or reporting obligations. When determining the appropriate retention period, we consider the nature and sensitivity of the data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure, the purposes for which we process it and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means.
In general, we retain customer account and contract information for a period after your storage agreement ends, to deal with any queries, disputes or legal claims. Security records, including access logs and closed circuit television footage, are usually kept for a shorter period, unless they are required for the investigation of an incident. Once the applicable retention period has expired, we will securely delete or anonymise your personal data.
Your Data Protection Rights
Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. These rights are subject to certain conditions and exemptions.
Right of access: you have the right to obtain confirmation as to whether we process your personal data and to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you, together with information about how we use it.
Right to rectification: you have the right to request that inaccurate or incomplete personal data about you is corrected or updated without undue delay.
Right to erasure: in certain circumstances, you may have the right to request that we delete your personal data. This is not an absolute right and may not apply where we have a legal obligation or compelling legitimate interest to retain the data.
Right to restriction of processing: you may have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal data in certain situations, for example while we verify its accuracy or consider an objection you have raised.
Right to object: you have the right to object to processing based on our legitimate interests, including profiling based on those interests, on grounds relating to your particular situation. We will stop processing your data unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds to continue.
Right to data portability: in certain circumstances, you may have the right to receive personal data you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format and to transmit that data to another controller.
Right to withdraw consent: where we rely on your consent for processing, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. This will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.
Exercising Your Rights and Complaints
If you wish to exercise any of your data protection rights or have questions about how we handle your personal data, you can contact us using our usual customer contact channels. We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your data or exercise other rights.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK supervisory authority for data protection if you are unhappy with how we have used your data or responded to a request. We would, however, welcome the opportunity to address your concerns directly before you approach the supervisory authority.
Security of Your Data
We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data from unauthorised access, accidental loss, destruction or damage. These measures include access controls, secure storage, staff training and procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach.
Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal requirements or how we process personal data. Any changes will be posted in an updated version of this Privacy Policy. We encourage you to review this page periodically to stay informed about how we protect your information.
