Last updated: 1 August 2026
1. Scope of this policy
This policy covers personal data we process when you request a quotation, submit a booking form, telephone or email the freight desk, browse this website, or appear on shipping documents as a shipper, consignee, notify party, driver or vehicle owner. It applies to private customers, sole traders and the named contacts of company customers.
We are the data controller for that information. Where we pass data to a carrier, airline, port operator, customs authority or destination agent so that they can perform their part of the movement, they process it as controllers in their own right under their own policies and their own legal duties.
2. What personal data we collect
The information we hold is driven by what customs and carriers require rather than by what we would like to know. For a straightforward vehicle or container booking this typically includes your name, address, telephone number, email address, the collection and delivery addresses, the consignee's details, cargo descriptions, values, and copies of identity or ownership documents.
Vehicle shipments usually require additional documents such as the V5C registration document or a bill of sale, together with photographic identification, because both UK export formalities and destination clearance depend on proving who owns the vehicle. Household removals may involve a packing inventory listing the contents of your home, which we treat as confidential.
- Contact and billing details for you and your consignee
- Collection and delivery addresses, including residential addresses
- Identity documents such as a passport or driving licence where clearance requires them
- Ownership documents such as a V5C, bill of sale, invoice or title certificate
- Cargo descriptions, weights, dimensions, values and inventories
- Payment records, invoices and correspondence about the booking
- Website technical data such as IP address, device type and pages viewed
3. Why we process it, and our lawful basis
We process most data to perform the contract you have asked us to enter into: quoting, booking space, arranging collection, lodging customs declarations, issuing bills of lading or air waybills, and arranging clearance and delivery. Without it, a shipment cannot legally leave the United Kingdom or be released at destination.
We also process data to comply with legal obligations, including customs and excise law, export control and sanctions screening, dangerous goods rules, tax and accounting requirements. Some processing rests on our legitimate interests, such as preventing fraud, recovering debts, keeping records of what was quoted and agreed, and improving our services. Where we send marketing about shipping services to private individuals, we do so on the basis of consent that you can withdraw at any time.
4. Who we share data with
To move cargo we share the minimum necessary data with shipping lines, airlines, road hauliers, port and terminal operators, customs authorities in the UK and at destination, our destination agents, insurers where you ask us to arrange cover, and payment providers who handle your transaction.
We use trusted service providers for IT hosting, email, accounting and customs software. Those providers act on our instructions under written terms and are not permitted to use your data for their own purposes. We do not sell personal data, and we do not share it with advertising networks for profiling.
Where we transfer data outside the United Kingdom, which is unavoidable when clearing cargo abroad, we rely on the recognised safeguards available to us, including adequacy regulations and standard contractual clauses. In some cases the transfer is necessary for the performance of your contract, because a destination authority will not release cargo without the documents.
5. How long we keep records
Customs, tax and carriage records are kept for the periods the law requires, which in the United Kingdom generally means at least six years from the end of the relevant accounting period, and longer where a customs authorisation, claim or dispute is still live.
Quotations that never became bookings are kept for a shorter period so we can answer follow-up enquiries and understand pricing history, and are then deleted. Identity documents are retained only for as long as clearance and any subsequent audit requires, and are stored with restricted access.
6. Keeping data secure
Access to booking files is limited to staff who need them, systems are password protected, transfers of documents use encrypted channels where available, and identity documents are not circulated by unsecured means beyond what a clearance requires. Paper documents are stored securely and destroyed confidentially.
No transmission over the internet is completely secure. If you have to send a passport scan or ownership document, send it directly to the coordinator handling your file rather than through public forms or social media, and tell us straight away if you think an email address has been compromised.
7. Cookies and website analytics
This website uses a small number of cookies and similar technologies to keep pages working, remember preferences and understand which pages people actually use. Our Cookies Policy sets out the categories in detail and how you can control them in your browser.
We do not need cookies to give you a quotation. If you would rather not accept non-essential cookies, telephone or email the freight desk and we will price the shipment for you directly.
8. Your rights over your data
You have the right to ask what we hold, to receive a copy, to have inaccurate details corrected, to ask for deletion where no legal duty requires us to keep the record, to object to or restrict certain processing, and to withdraw consent to marketing. We do not make automated decisions about you that have legal effects.
Some rights are limited in a freight context. We cannot delete a customs declaration already lodged with an authority, nor a bill of lading in a carrier's system, and we must retain accounting records for the statutory period. Where we cannot act on a request in full we will explain why.
To exercise any right, contact the freight desk in writing with enough detail to identify the shipment. We respond within one month and will tell you if a complex request needs longer. If you are unhappy with our handling of your data you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office, although we would prefer the chance to put it right first.
9. Children and third-party data
Our services are aimed at adults arranging commercial or personal shipments, and we do not knowingly collect data from children. Household removals may include family names on inventories; that data is processed only to perform the move and to satisfy customs.
When you give us details for a consignee, driver or family member, you confirm you may share them and that you have told the person their data will be used to arrange and clear the shipment. Please share this policy with them so they know how their information is handled.
10. Changes to this policy
We review this policy periodically and whenever our systems, partners or legal duties change. The version published on this page applies from the date shown at the top, and material changes affecting existing bookings will be notified to the contact address we hold for you.