Privacy Policy - Tree Surgeons Lee

This Privacy Policy explains how Tree Surgeons Lee collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data when providing tree surgery, arboricultural, pruning, felling, maintenance, inspection, and related services. It applies to all Tree Surgeons Lee customers in the area, including individuals, property owners, landlords, tenants, commercial clients, and anyone who enquires about or receives our services.

1. Who We Are

Tree Surgeons Lee is a service provider operating in the local area and handling personal data in connection with the delivery of tree surgery and related works. For the purposes of data protection law, Tree Surgeons Lee acts as a data controller when deciding how and why personal data is processed for our business operations.

2. Information We Collect

We collect only the information necessary to provide our services, manage our business, and comply with legal obligations. Depending on how you interact with us, this may include:

Identity details such as your name and title.
Contact details such as address, email address, and telephone number.
Property information such as site address, access notes, and details relevant to the requested tree work.
Service information such as quotations, invoices, job notes, appointment records, and service history.
Communications such as emails, messages, call notes, and records of enquiries or complaints.
Payment and billing data such as payment status, transaction references, and invoice records.
Technical data if you contact us electronically, such as basic device or usage information where required for security and record-keeping.

We generally do not seek to collect special category data. If such information is provided to us incidentally, for example within correspondence, it will be handled carefully and only where there is a lawful basis to do so.

3. How We Use Your Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

To respond to enquiries and provide quotations.
To assess tree work requirements and plan services safely.
To deliver tree surgery and associated services.
To manage bookings, scheduling, and site attendance.
To issue invoices, process payments, and keep financial records.
To maintain service records and handle follow-up work or complaints.
To comply with legal, tax, insurance, and regulatory obligations.
To protect our business, staff, clients, and property.

We only process data where there is a valid reason to do so and keep processing limited to what is necessary and proportionate.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under the UK GDPR, we rely on the following lawful bases for processing personal data:

Contract

We process personal data because it is necessary to perform a contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract. This includes preparing quotations, arranging work, and carrying out agreed services.

Legal Obligation

We may process data where it is necessary to comply with legal obligations, including tax, accounting, health and safety, insurance, and record-keeping requirements.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. This may include maintaining operational records, improving service quality, preventing fraud, and managing business administration.

Consent

In limited circumstances, we may rely on consent, for example where it is needed for a particular optional use of data. Where consent is used, you may withdraw it at any time.

5. How We Share Personal Data

We may share personal data with trusted third parties where necessary for the operation of our business and the delivery of services. These may include:

Payment providers for processing transactions.
Accountants or bookkeepers for financial administration and tax compliance.
IT and cloud service providers that support our record-keeping, communication, or storage systems.
Subcontractors or specialist processors assisting with service delivery where appropriate.
Insurers, legal advisers, or regulators where disclosure is required or reasonably necessary.

We require third parties to handle personal data securely and only in accordance with our instructions or applicable law. We do not sell personal data.

6. Processors

Where Tree Surgeons Lee uses external service providers to process personal data on our behalf, those providers act as data processors. Processors may only use data in line with our instructions and must apply suitable security measures.

Examples of processing activities carried out by processors may include:

Hosting secure data storage systems.
Managing email or communication tools.
Handling accounting and invoicing systems.
Supporting appointment scheduling or administrative workflows.

We take reasonable steps to ensure that any processor engaged by us is suitable, contractually bound, and able to protect personal data appropriately.

7. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, including to meet legal, accounting, insurance, or operational requirements. Retention periods vary depending on the type of record and the reason for processing.

Enquiry records may be retained for a limited period after the enquiry is resolved or no further action is taken.
Customer and job records are generally retained for the duration of the customer relationship and for a reasonable period afterwards.
Invoice and financial records are retained for the period required by tax and accounting law.
Complaint, legal, or insurance records may be retained for longer where necessary to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

When data is no longer required, we will delete it securely or anonymise it where appropriate. Retention is limited and reviewed regularly to ensure we do not keep information longer than necessary.

8. Data Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, password protection, and restricted internal access.

Although no system can be guaranteed completely secure, we take privacy and data protection seriously and work to reduce risk at every stage of processing.

9. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. Subject to certain conditions and exemptions, these may include:

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 circumstances.
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.
Right to data portability – to request 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.

You also have the right to raise concerns with the UK data protection authority if you believe your data protection rights have been infringed. We encourage you to contact us first so we can try to resolve any issue promptly and fairly.

10. Children’s Data

Tree Surgeons Lee does not intentionally target or collect personal data from children. Our services are intended for adults and business customers. If we become aware that personal data relating to a child has been collected unintentionally, we will take appropriate steps to remove it where required.

11. International Transfers

Where any service provider stores or accesses data outside the UK, we will take steps to ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place and that the transfer is carried out lawfully. We aim to use providers with strong privacy and security protections.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our operations, legal obligations, or data processing practices. The latest version will apply from the date it is published or otherwise communicated. We encourage customers to review it periodically.

13. Summary of Our Commitments

Tree Surgeons Lee is committed to handling personal data lawfully, fairly, and transparently. We collect only the data needed to deliver our services, use it for clear and legitimate purposes, retain it only as long as necessary, and share it only with trusted processors or where required by law. We also respect your rights and aim to make all data processing proportionate, secure, and accountable.

By engaging Tree Surgeons Lee, making an enquiry, or using our services, you acknowledge that this Privacy Policy applies to your personal data.