Privacy Policy

Gardeners Elm Park Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Gardeners Elm Park collects, uses, stores and protects personal data relating to customers and prospective customers in our service area. It is intended to comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation and any applicable data protection legislation. By using our services, making an enquiry or otherwise providing your personal data to us, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy.

Scope of this Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy applies to all Gardeners Elm Park customers and prospective customers within our operating area, including individuals who contact us for quotations, purchase our services, or otherwise interact with us offline or online. It covers personal data processed in connection with the provision of gardening and related services, administration of customer accounts and promotion of our services.

Data Controller

For the purposes of data protection law, Gardeners Elm Park is the data controller for the personal data described in this Privacy Policy. This means that we decide how and why your personal data is processed and are responsible for ensuring that it is handled lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner.

Personal Data We Collect

We may collect and process the following categories of personal data about you when you use our services or contact us:

Identification and contact information, such as your name, postal address, service address, and any other contact details that you choose to provide to us when you make an enquiry or place an order.

Communication information, such as the content of messages or notes relating to your enquiries, bookings, feedback or complaints, as well as records of communications between you and Gardeners Elm Park.

Service and account information, such as details of the services you request or purchase, pricing, booking dates and times, property access instructions you provide, and records relating to the performance of our services at your property.

Payment related information, such as transaction details and payment status. We do not store full card numbers or sensitive payment credentials when payments are processed by third party payment processors.

Technical and usage information, where applicable, such as basic information about how you interact with our website or online presence, including pages viewed, dates and times of visits, and similar information that may be collected through standard web technologies.

How We Collect Personal Data

We obtain personal data from you directly when you contact us by any means to request information, obtain a quotation, book services, or provide feedback. We also collect data during the course of providing services at your property, such as notes on work completed and follow up requirements. In some cases, we may receive personal data from third parties, for example if someone refers you to us or books services on your behalf.

Lawful Bases for Processing

Gardeners Elm Park will only process your personal data where we have a valid lawful basis under data protection law. Depending on the context, we may rely on one or more of the following lawful bases:

Contract. We process personal data when it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you, for example to provide gardening services you have requested, send booking confirmations, manage your account or handle payments.

Legal obligation. We may process personal data where we are required to do so by law, such as for record keeping, tax or accounting obligations or to respond to lawful requests from public authorities.

Legitimate interests. We may process personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests and where your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. This can include managing our relationship with you, improving our services, preventing fraud, and promoting our services to existing customers in a proportionate way.

Consent. In certain limited circumstances, we may rely on your consent, for example where required for particular forms of marketing or where you have specifically requested that we keep you informed about offers. Where we rely on consent, you have the right to withdraw it at any time.

How We Use Personal Data

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

To provide and manage our gardening and related services, including arranging visits, carrying out work, managing access to your property and handling any aftercare or follow up requested by you.

To respond to your enquiries and requests, provide quotations, and communicate with you about bookings, service updates, cancellations, rescheduling and similar matters.

To manage our relationship with you as a customer, including record keeping, handling feedback and complaints, and maintaining accurate information about your property requirements and service history.

To process payments and maintain financial records, including invoices, receipts and necessary accounting information.

To improve our services and operations, including quality control, training and planning future services, provided that such use is proportionate and respects your privacy.

To send you information about services that are similar to those you have already purchased from us, where permitted by law, and always with the option to opt out of future marketing communications.

To protect our business and legal interests, including the prevention and detection of fraud, misuse of our services, and the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

Data Sharing and Processors

Gardeners Elm Park may share your personal data with carefully selected third parties where necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy and where appropriate safeguards are in place.

Service providers acting as data processors may process personal data on our behalf. These can include providers of payment processing, accounting support, customer relationship tools, cloud storage, and information technology services. These processors are required to act only on our instructions, to use appropriate security measures and to protect your personal data.

Professional advisers, such as accountants or legal advisers, may receive limited personal data where necessary for professional services and compliance with legal obligations.

Public authorities and regulatory bodies may receive personal data where required by law or where necessary to protect our rights, your rights, or the rights of others.

We do not sell your personal data to third parties. If we are involved in a business transfer, such as a merger or acquisition, personal data may be transferred as part of that transaction in accordance with data protection law.

International Transfers

Where we use service providers located outside the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area, or where data is stored in or accessed from other countries, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place. This may include ensuring that the destination country has been recognised as providing an adequate level of protection or implementing approved standard contractual clauses or other valid transfer mechanisms.

Data Retention

Gardeners Elm Park will retain your personal data only for as long as is reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including to meet legal, accounting or reporting requirements. Factors taken into account when determining retention periods include the nature of the data, the purposes for which it is processed, legal obligations and the potential need to retain data for the establishment or defence of legal claims.

In general, we will retain customer account and service records for as long as you remain a customer and for a reasonable period thereafter, after which the data will be securely deleted or anonymised. Financial records may be retained for longer periods where required by tax or accounting laws. Where we rely on your consent for marketing, we will continue to process your contact details for that purpose until you withdraw your consent or opt out, at which point your details will be removed from relevant marketing lists.

Your Data Protection Rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data held by Gardeners Elm Park. These rights are subject to certain conditions and legal exceptions, but we will always respond to any request you make to exercise them:

Right of access. You have the right to request confirmation of whether we process your personal data and to obtain a copy of that data together with certain information about how it is used.

Right to rectification. You have the right to request correction of inaccurate personal data and to have incomplete data completed.

Right to erasure. In certain circumstances, you may request that we delete your personal data, for example where it is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, or where you withdraw consent and there is no other lawful basis for processing.

Right to restriction of processing. You may request that we restrict the processing of your personal data in certain situations, for example while we check the accuracy of the data or consider an objection you have raised.

Right to data portability. In some cases, you may request that we provide you with personal data you have supplied to us in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format, or that we transmit it to another controller where technically feasible.

Right to object. You have the right to object to processing that is based on our legitimate interests, including profiling based on those interests, and we will stop processing unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds. You always have the right to object at any time to the use of your personal data for direct marketing.

Right to withdraw consent. Where we rely on your consent for processing, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal of consent will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before the withdrawal.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant supervisory authority if you believe that our processing of your personal data infringes data protection law.

Security of Your Personal Data

Gardeners Elm Park takes appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, accidental loss, destruction or damage. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff awareness and procedures designed to ensure that personal data is handled in accordance with this Privacy Policy and applicable law. While we strive to protect your personal data, no system can be completely secure and you should take care when providing personal information.

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 updated version will be made available through our usual communication channels and will take effect from the date of publication. You are encouraged to review this Privacy Policy periodically so that you remain informed about how we handle your personal data.