Forest Removals Limited is the controller of the personal information described in this notice. This means we decide why and how that information is used.

• Company name: Forest Removals Limited
• Company number: 14696389
• Registered office: 79 Lansdown Hill, Fulwood, Preston, England, PR2 3UX
• Trading address: Langdale Business Park, Whitegate, Morecambe, LA3 3PL
• Email: info@forestremovals.co.uk
• Telephone: 01524 928821 or 07984 011 554

Please mark privacy enquiries for the attention of the person responsible for data protection.

The information we collect depends on how you interact with us and which services you ask us to provide. It may include:

• Identity and contact details: your name, address, email address, telephone number and the contact details of another person involved in the move where appropriate.
• Move and property details: collection and delivery addresses, property type, access, parking, stairs, lifts, carrying distances, moving dates and key-release arrangements.
• Inventory and survey information: descriptions of belongings, photographs, video recordings, video-call content and details of items requiring packing, dismantling, special handling or storage.
• Quotation and booking records: estimates, quotations, accepted work, service requirements, signed documents, changes to a booking and communications about the job.
• Payment and accounting information: invoice details, amounts paid, payment references and payment status. We do not normally store complete payment-card details; these are handled by the relevant bank or payment provider.
• Communications: emails, telephone notes, text or WhatsApp messages, contact-form submissions, complaints, feedback and correspondence through social-media platforms.
• Storage information: records relating to items placed into storage, storage dates, access requests and collection or redelivery arrangements.
• Website and device information: IP address, browser and device type, pages visited, referring website, approximate location, cookie choices and information recorded in security or server logs.
• Reviews and feedback: comments you send to us or choose to publish on a review or social-media platform.

Please avoid including passports, bank statements, medical records or other highly sensitive documents in survey photographs or videos unless it is genuinely necessary. If sensitive information is captured incidentally, we will only use it where necessary and where the law permits.

We normally receive information directly from you when you:

• complete a quotation, contact or inventory form;
• contact us by telephone, email, WhatsApp, text message or social media;
• send photographs or a video survey, take part in a video call, or arrange a home visit;
• accept a quotation, make a payment or use one of our services;
• ask us to arrange packing, storage, dismantling, reassembly or another related service; or
• leave a review or provide feedback.

We may also receive relevant information from a person acting on your behalf, another customer involved in the same move, an estate agent, solicitor, storage provider, payment provider, insurer or referral partner. Where you give us another person’s details, you should make sure they know that their information has been provided to us.

Technical information may be collected automatically when you use our website, subject to your cookie choices.

We may ask for photographs, a recorded video, a live video survey or a home visit so that we can understand the volume of belongings, access, packing requirements and any items requiring special care. This information helps us prepare an accurate quotation and plan the work.

Survey material may show the inside of a home and personal belongings. It will only be made available to people or service providers who reasonably need it for the quotation, planning, performance, safety or administration of the job. We do not use survey material for advertising or social media without separate permission.

If another person appears in a photograph or video, please obtain their permission where reasonably possible. You may pause recording, cover private documents or exclude rooms or belongings you do not want recorded, although we may need alternative information to quote accurately.

We do not sell or rent personal information.

Where necessary, we may share limited information with:

• our employees, workers and authorised team members who need it to quote, plan or carry out the service;
• website-hosting, email, telephone, form, cloud-storage, quotation, customer-management, inventory and video-survey providers;
• banks, card or payment providers and accounting service providers;
• storage facilities, specialist service providers, trusted subcontractors or partner removal companies where they are involved in the agreed work;
• insurers, insurance brokers, loss adjusters, legal advisers and other professional advisers;
• analytics, review and social-media platform providers where you choose to interact with those services or consent to the relevant technology;
• police, courts, regulators, HM Revenue & Customs, local authorities or other public bodies where disclosure is required or permitted by law; and
• a prospective purchaser or adviser if our business is reorganised or sold, subject to appropriate confidentiality protections.

We only share what is reasonably necessary for the relevant purpose. Service providers acting on our instructions are required to protect the information and use it only for the agreed service.

Some technology, communications, analytics, payment, review or social-media providers may process information outside the United Kingdom.

Where personal information is transferred internationally, we take reasonable steps to ensure an appropriate safeguard is in place. This may include transferring information to a country covered by UK adequacy regulations, using approved contractual protections such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or UK Addendum, or relying on another safeguard permitted by law.

You may contact us if you would like more information about the safeguards relevant to your information.

We keep personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected and to meet legal, accounting, insurance and dispute-handling requirements.

Our usual retention approach is:

• Enquiries and quotations that do not proceed: normally up to 12 months after the last meaningful contact.
• Survey photographs, inventory images and videos: normally up to 12 months after the quotation expires or the booked service is completed, unless they are still needed for ongoing storage, a complaint, claim, insurance matter or legal requirement.
• Customer, booking, contract, invoice and payment records: normally six years after the end of the relevant financial year or the completion of the service.
• Storage records: for the duration of storage and afterwards for the period reasonably required for contractual, accounting, insurance or legal purposes.
• Complaints, incidents and claims: for as long as required to investigate and resolve the matter and for any relevant legal limitation or insurance period.
• Marketing records: until you unsubscribe or object. We may retain a minimal suppression record so that we remember not to contact you again.
• Website security and server logs: normally up to 12 months unless a longer period is required to investigate a security incident.

We may keep information for longer where required by law, where a dispute or claim is reasonably anticipated, or where another legitimate reason applies. Information may be securely deleted or anonymised when it is no longer required.

We use proportionate technical and organisational measures designed to protect personal information from loss, misuse, alteration, unauthorised access or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, password protection, secure website connections, software updates, backups, staff guidance and limiting information to those who need it.

No internet, email, mobile-messaging or electronic-storage system can be guaranteed completely secure. If you believe information you sent to us may have been compromised, please contact us promptly.

We may contact you about an enquiry, quotation, booking, payment, storage arrangement, service update or another matter connected with work you have requested. These are service communications rather than marketing.

We will only send promotional emails, texts or similar electronic messages where we have the necessary permission or where the law otherwise allows us to do so. You can stop marketing at any time by using an unsubscribe option where provided or by contacting us at info@forestremovals.co.uk.

Stopping marketing will not prevent us from sending necessary messages about an active enquiry, booking, service, payment, storage arrangement or legal matter.

Cookies and similar technologies are small files or identifiers used by websites to remember choices, provide functions, maintain security and understand how a website is used.

Our website may use:

• Strictly necessary technologies required for security, forms, page delivery or remembering privacy choices.
• Analytics technologies that help us understand visits and improve the website.
• Embedded or third-party technologies connected with features such as maps, videos, reviews or social-media content.

Where consent is required, optional technologies should not be used until you have made a choice through the website’s cookie controls. You can change or withdraw your choice through those controls. You can also use your browser settings to block or delete cookies, although parts of the website may not work as intended.

The providers used and the cookies available may change as the website is updated. The current cookie-control panel should provide more detail about optional categories and allow you to manage them.

Depending on the circumstances, UK data-protection law may give you the right to:

• ask for confirmation that we use your personal information and request a copy of it;
• ask us to correct incomplete or inaccurate information;
• ask us to delete information where there is no good reason for us to continue holding it;
• ask us to restrict how information is used in certain circumstances;
• object to processing based on legitimate interests and object at any time to direct marketing;
• receive certain information in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format or ask for it to be sent to another organisation;
• withdraw consent at any time where consent is our lawful basis; and
• raise a concern with the Information Commissioner’s Office.

These rights are not absolute and an exemption may apply. We may ask for information to confirm your identity before acting on a request. We will normally respond within one month, although the law allows more time for a complex request. We do not normally charge a fee.

To exercise a right, email info@forestremovals.co.uk or write to our registered office using the details above.

We do not make decisions about customers using solely automated processing that produces legal or similarly significant effects.

Our services and website are intended for adults arranging household, business or related moving services. We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children for marketing purposes.

Our website may link to websites or services operated by other organisations. We do not control their privacy practices. Their own privacy notices apply when you leave our website or interact directly with their platform.

Messages sent through WhatsApp, social-media services, review platforms or payment services are also subject to the relevant provider’s terms and privacy information.

We may update this privacy notice to reflect changes to our services, providers, website or legal obligations. The latest version will be published on this page and the date at the top will be changed. Material changes may also be brought to your attention in another appropriate way.