Privacy Policy - Tree Surgeons Tooting

This Privacy Policy explains how Tree Surgeons Tooting collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data relating to our customers, prospective customers, and other individuals who interact with us in the Tooting area. This policy applies to all Tree Surgeons Tooting customers in area, including anyone who requests a quotation, books a service, receives a site visit, or otherwise communicates with us.

We are committed to handling personal data in a lawful, fair, and transparent manner in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. We only collect the information we need, and we take appropriate steps to keep it secure.

1. Who We Are

Tree Surgeons Tooting provides arboricultural and related outdoor services, including tree inspections, pruning, crown reduction, stump removal, tree felling, and emergency call-outs. In the course of delivering these services, we may process personal data about customers, property owners, tenants, site visitors, suppliers, and representatives of businesses or organisations.

This policy applies to personal data collected through phone calls, email, written correspondence, quotation forms, service requests, invoices, site visits, and any other direct interactions connected to our work in the Tooting area.

2. Data We Collect

We collect only the data necessary to respond to enquiries, provide services, manage customer relationships, and meet legal obligations. Depending on the circumstances, we may collect the following categories of personal data:

Identity information such as your name, title, and, where relevant, the name of your business or organisation.
Contact information such as your address, email address, and telephone number.
Property and service details such as location information, access notes, photographs of trees or site conditions, and details of the requested or completed work.
Communication records such as correspondence, call notes, complaints, and feedback.
Billing and transaction data such as invoice details, payment status, and records of services purchased.
Technical data such as limited information collected through emails or digital records necessary for security, administration, or audit purposes.

We do not intentionally collect special category data unless it is necessary and lawfully permitted. If you voluntarily provide information that may reveal health-related or other sensitive details, we will only use it where required for service delivery, safety, or legal compliance.

3. How We Use Personal Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

to respond to enquiries and provide quotations;
to arrange site visits and deliver tree surgery services;
to manage appointments, scheduling, and service updates;
to issue invoices and process payments;
to record work completed and maintain business records;
to deal with complaints, claims, and customer service matters;
to comply with legal, regulatory, tax, and insurance obligations;
to prevent fraud, misuse, and other unlawful activity;
to improve our services and maintain accurate records.

We will only use your personal data in ways that are compatible with the reasons for which it was collected, unless we reasonably need to use it for another lawful purpose.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under data protection law, we must have a lawful basis for every processing activity. Tree Surgeons Tooting relies on the following lawful bases where appropriate:

Contract

We process personal data where it is necessary to take steps at your request before entering into a contract or to perform a contract with you. This includes handling enquiries, preparing quotations, scheduling work, carrying out tree surgery services, and managing payment-related tasks.

Legal Obligation

We process certain personal data to comply with legal and regulatory obligations, including accounting, tax, health and safety, insurance, and record-keeping requirements.

Legitimate Interests

We may process personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided that these interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. This may include service administration, business planning, customer relationship management, fraud prevention, and maintaining secure records. When relying on legitimate interests, we assess whether the processing is proportionate and necessary.

Consent

In limited situations, we may rely on your consent, for example where it is the most appropriate basis for a specific optional activity. Where consent is used, you may withdraw it at any time.

Vital Interests

In rare cases, we may process personal data to protect someone’s vital interests, such as in an emergency where immediate action is necessary to prevent serious harm.

5. Sharing and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties where necessary for the purposes described in this policy. These third parties act as processors or independent controllers depending on the service they provide.

Processors may include:

accountants or bookkeeping providers;
IT, cloud storage, email, and security service providers;
payment processing or invoicing service providers;
specialist subcontractors assisting with tree surgery work;
legal, insurance, or compliance advisers;
waste management or recycling providers where needed for service delivery.

Where we use processors, we require them to protect personal data and to process it only on our instructions and in accordance with data protection law. We do not sell personal data.

We may also disclose personal data where required by law, regulation, court order, or to respond to a lawful request from a public authority. If business ownership or operational responsibilities change, personal data may be transferred as part of that transition, subject to appropriate safeguards.

6. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including legal, accounting, and insurance requirements. Retention periods vary depending on the type of record and the reason it is held.

Enquiry and quotation records are generally kept for a limited period after the last contact, unless they are needed for ongoing correspondence or a future service.
Customer service, contract, and invoice records may be kept for several years to meet tax, accounting, and warranty-related obligations.
Health and safety or incident records may be retained longer where required by law or insurance arrangements.

When personal data is no longer required, we will securely delete, destroy, or anonymise it.

7. Data Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against accidental loss, unauthorised access, misuse, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, password protection, secure storage, restricted permissions, and staff awareness procedures. While no system can be guaranteed completely secure, we take reasonable steps to reduce risk and to respond promptly to any suspected data incident.

8. Your Rights

Depending on the circumstances and lawful basis for processing, you may have the following rights under data protection law:

Right of access – to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification – to ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
Right to erasure – to request deletion of your data in certain cases.
Right to restriction – to ask us to limit how we use your data in certain situations.
Right to object – to object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing where applicable.
Right to data portability – to receive certain data in a structured, commonly used format where applicable.
Right to withdraw consent – where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

Some rights are subject to legal exceptions. If we cannot comply with a request, we will explain why where permitted by law.

9. 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 a service request, property access, or safety matter and is provided by an appropriate adult or lawful representative.

10. International Transfers

If any processor stores or accesses personal data outside the UK, we will take appropriate measures to ensure that the data remains protected in line with UK data protection law. This may include approved contractual safeguards and security standards.

11. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal obligations, or data handling practices. The updated version will apply from the date it is published or otherwise communicated. We encourage customers in the Tooting area to review this policy periodically.

12. How We Apply This Policy

This Privacy Policy applies to all Tree Surgeons Tooting customers in area and to personal data processed in connection with our services in the local area. By engaging with our services, you acknowledge that personal data may be processed as described in this policy. We aim to keep all information accurate, relevant, and limited to what is necessary for providing a professional service and meeting our legal responsibilities.

In summary: we collect only the data needed to operate our tree surgery services, process it on a valid legal basis, retain it for no longer than necessary, use processors responsibly, and respect your rights under data protection law.