Who we are
Cole Services Ltd trading as Cole Hire provides rental services for specialised vehicles for self-drive hire to both private and business sectors across London and the Home Counties.
Cole Services Ltd is the data controller described in this privacy notice. We are committed to being transparent about how we collect and use your data and will comply with our data protection obligations under the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).
Data Protection officer
The person designated as the data protection officer is Ciara Pryce, Chief Operating Officer; email: ciara.pryce@vgcgroup.co.uk, contact postal address: Westar House, 690 Great West Road, Osterley, Middlesex, TW7 4PU.
Data protection principles
Cole Hire is committed to protecting your data when you are using our services and will comply with data protection law and principles, which means that your data will be:
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Used lawfully, fairly and in a transparent way
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Collected only for valid purposes and not used in any way that is incompatible with those purposes
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Accurate and kept up to date
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Kept only as long as necessary
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Kept securely
The type of data we collect.
In order to provide you with our services we will collect information about you. The data that we collect and process may include, but are not limited to:
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Full name, address and contact details, including email address and telephone number.
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Company name, address and contact details including email address and telephone number.
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Date of birth
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Proof of identity and proof of address documentation
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Financial information such as bank details, credit/debit card information for payment purposes.
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Driving licence and driving offence records for vehicle rental purposes.
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IP address and the use of ‘cookies’ from visitors to the Cole Hire website.
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Data you view or download from our website.
How is this information collected.
Most of the personal information we process is provided to us directly by you in a multitude of ways including but not limited to in person at rental office, online registration, telephone calls, emails, ‘cookies’ through website activity and identity documents such as driving licence.
We use the information that you have given us in order to;
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Supply you with a quote.
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Contact the DVLA to establish your eligibility for hire.
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Process the financial transaction.
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Perform and manage your contract upon hire.
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Insurance cover and the report of any accidents to our insurance company
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Process payment for additional hire charges that have been incurred, including but not limited to, government/local authority seizing or impounding, parking and traffic infringement penalties, road toll fines and congestion charges.
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Comply with the retention of financial transactions for accounting purposes.
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Deal with customer service requests and enquiries
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Provide you with information on our services, activities, or online content which means Cole Hire may contact you for reasons related to the service, activity or online content you have signed up for.
Our website (www.colehire.co.uk) uses session-based cookies to store information about vehicles you require quotes for and information you may enter when booking online. This information is stored on the webserver hosting this website. These session cookies are only available during the time you are on the site and are removed when your browsing session is finished (when you close your online browser).
Our website may from time to time use persistent cookies which are small text files stored on your computer to record your preferences or activity between visits. These cookies do not store personal information about you or your computer and you can clear them at any point by deleting your browser history.
Our website does make use of Google Analytics for online visitor tracking. Google Analytics sets a cookie in order to evaluate your use of our website and compiles reports on website activity. Google stores the information collected by cookies on servers in the United States. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google’s behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by google.
By using our website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for purposes set out above. You can read more about cookie privacy and Google Analytics including information on how to opt out at: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/181881?hl=en
The legal basis for processing your data?
We must have a legal basis for processing your personal data. Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) the lawful basis we rely on for processing this information are:
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We have a contractual obligation
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If you choose to hire one of our vehicles data processing is necessary to perform and manage the contract.
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We have a legal obligation
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Where it is necessary to comply with the law or in response to a court order, law enforcement request or other legal reasons.
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When you exercise your rights under data protection law and related disclosures.
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Where we are obliged to share personal data with our insurance company in the event of an accident.
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For maintaining and reporting financial accounting information for up to 6 years from the end of the tax year in which a financial transaction was processed.
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We have a legitimate interest
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to protect such interests, rights, safety and property. For example, in defence of claims brought against us in connection with your rental of our vehicle;
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for the proper running of our systems and our business in order to provide our products and services to you and other customers
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to retain your details where the contract between us has ended and the vehicle has been returned in case of outstanding issues to be resolved, or in the event you choose to enter into a new contract with us or you have requested we contact you at a later date.
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to retain your details where the contract between us has ended because you broke the terms and conditions of the hire, to prevent future hire and protect our business interests.
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to share proof of hire which will include personal data where additional charges have been incurred, including but not limited to, government/local authority seizing or impounding, parking and traffic infringement penalties, road toll fines, and congestion charges.
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to retain your information for internal statistical and reporting purposes to improve our services.
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We have your consent
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To provide you with marketing information, special offers and promotions via various means including email. You can unsubscribe or withdraw consent from receiving such messages at any time.
Recipients of data
Your data will be shared internally with staff who need access to your data to perform their job roles.
We will keep your information confidential except where disclosure is required or permitted by law.
In general, we will only use your information within the Cole Hire business. However, there may be occasions where your data is required to be shared with third parties such as insurance companies, accrediting bodies and auditors. Where this is the case, Cole Hire requires these third parties to comply with our instructions on how your data is used and do not allow the use of your personal information for their own business purposes, unless you have explicitly consented to the use of your personal information in this way.
Cole Hire websites contains hyperlinks to websites owned and operated by third parties. These third parties have their own privacy policies and we urge you to review them. They will govern the use of personal information you submit or is collected by cookies whilst visiting these websites. Cole Hire do not accept any responsibility or liability for the privacy practices of such third party websites and the use of such websites is at your own risk.
How is your data protected?
We are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy and we take the security of your data very seriously. We have organisational and security measures in place to ensure that your data is not lost, accidentally destroyed, misused or disclosed, and is not accessed except by employees in the performance of their duties.
We have in place procedures to deal with a suspected data security breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator where we are legally required to do so.
Where is data stored?
Data is stored in a range of different places;
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company servers;
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email accounts;
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Microsoft and prohire software systems
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backup storage
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paper and electronic files.
How long does Cole Hire keep data?
We retain personal data about our customers for as long as we believe is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, or unless otherwise allowed or required by law. We collect personal data for a number of purposes and may be required to retain it for legal (including tax) reasons for a period which is longer than the time we need or use the data for the purpose of providing our rental services to you.
Your data protection rights
As a data subject, you have a number of rights under data protection law including.
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Right of access – you have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information;
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Right to rectification – you have the right ask us to amend your information or change incorrect or incomplete data;
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Right to erasure – you have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances.
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Right to restriction of processing – you have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
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Right to object to processing – you have the right to object to the processing of your data where we are relying on legitimate interests as the legal ground for processing;
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Right to data portability – you have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances.
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Right to withdraw consent – you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time where consent is the lawful reason for processing your information.
You will not be required to pay any fee for exercising your rights. If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact the data protection officer stating the right you would like to exercise. If you make a request we have one month to respond to you.
Changes to our privacy policy
Cole Hire keep our policy under regular review. This privacy policy was last updated in March 2023.
Complaints
If you have any concerns about the use of your personal information, you can make a complaint to us. You should inform the data protection officer in the first instance Ciara Pryce, Chief Operating Officer; email: ciara.pryce@vgcgroup.co.uk, contact postal address: Westar House, 690 Great West Road, Osterley, Middlesex, TW7 4PU.
You also have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commission Office (ICO) Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.