Private Policy

Taunton Taxi Services is committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal information responsibly.

This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, how we use it, who we may share it with and the rights you have in relation to your information.

This policy applies to personal information collected through our website, telephone booking service, customer Booking Apps, Driver Apps and when you otherwise use or communicate with Taunton Taxi Services.

1. Who we are

For the purposes of UK data protection law, Taunton Taxi Services is responsible for the personal information covered by this Privacy Policy where we determine how and why that information is processed.

You can contact us regarding privacy or data protection matters at:

Taunton Taxi Services
48 Roys Place
Taunton
TA2 8AX

Email: info@taxis-in-taunton.com
Telephone: 01823 248 248
Website: taxis-in-taunton.com

2. Personal information we collect

Depending on how you use our services, we may collect information including:

Your name;
Email address;
Telephone or mobile number;
Postal or billing address;
Pickup and destination addresses;
Precise location information where you permit our app to access it;
Booking and journey details;
Date and time of bookings and journeys;
Information about previous bookings;
Account information;
Communications between you and us;
Call recordings;
Complaints, feedback and customer service correspondence;
Payment and transaction information;
Information necessary to fulfil account, corporate, school or other contracted transport bookings;
Device, app and technical information where necessary to operate our website or applications; and
Any other information you voluntarily provide to us in connection with a booking or enquiry.

We only seek to collect information that is relevant to operating our services or fulfilling another legitimate business or legal purpose.

3. Our Booking Apps

Our Booking Apps may collect personal information from you in order to fulfil your service requests.

This may include your:

Email address;
Personal name;
Postal address;
Contact telephone number;
Pickup location;
Destination;
Booking details; and
Journey information.

We use this information to create and manage your account, process your bookings, dispatch vehicles, communicate with you and fulfil the transport services you request.

Buddy feature and access to contacts

Our Booking Apps may request permission to access your device's contacts if you choose to use the Buddy feature.

The Buddy feature allows you to select another person from your contacts so that messages or information relating to your journey can be sent to that person while you are using our service.

Personal information accessed through this feature is used only as necessary for the operation and fulfilment of the service you have requested.

You do not need to allow access to your contacts to use the normal taxi-booking functions of the app.

You can manage the app's access to your contacts through your device settings.

4. Location Data

Our Booking App and Driver App collect and process precise location data where required to provide their location-based functionality.

Customer Booking App

Our Booking App can use the precise location of your device to determine your current position and help you select an appropriate pickup address based on your location.

This allows the app to make booking a vehicle from your current location quicker and more accurate.

You should check that the pickup address suggested by the app is correct before confirming your booking.

You can control location permissions through your device settings. If location access is disabled, certain location-based functions of the Booking App may not operate correctly, although you may still be able to enter your pickup location manually where that functionality is available.

Driver App

Our Driver App collects precise location data to allow us to operate our booking and dispatch service effectively.

Driver location information may be used to:

Identify the location of available drivers and vehicles;
Determine which drivers are closest to a booking;
Select or dispatch an appropriate driver for a job;
Track the progress of an accepted booking;
Track a journey through to completion;
Provide appropriate information about the progress of a booking to the passenger;
Assist our controllers and dispatch system in managing bookings; and
Support the operation, administration and management of our transport services.

Location information is processed where necessary for the operation of the Driver App and our booking, dispatch and transport services.

5. How we use your personal information

We may use your personal information to:

Accept, process and manage taxi bookings;
Dispatch an appropriate driver or vehicle;
Allow drivers to locate passengers;
Transport passengers to their requested destination;
Provide booking confirmations and journey updates;
Contact you regarding your booking;
Manage customer accounts;
Process payments and maintain transaction records;
Respond to enquiries, complaints and lost-property enquiries;
Operate and improve our website and applications;
Maintain the security and integrity of our systems;
Detect and prevent fraud or misuse;
Manage our relationship with customers, drivers and account holders;
Comply with legal, regulatory, licensing, tax and accounting requirements;
Establish, exercise or defend legal claims; and
Send marketing communications where permitted by law.

We will not use your personal information for purposes that are incompatible with the purposes for which it was originally collected unless permitted or required by law.

6. Our lawful bases for processing

UK data protection law requires us to have a lawful basis for processing personal information.

Depending upon the circumstances, we may rely upon:

Contract – where processing your information is necessary to provide a service you have requested or take steps at your request before providing that service. This includes processing information necessary to make and fulfil a taxi booking.

Legitimate interests – where processing is necessary for our legitimate business interests or those of another party and those interests are not overridden by your rights and interests. This may include managing our business, improving our services, protecting our systems, preventing fraud and dealing with customer enquiries and complaints.

Legal obligation – where we need to process information to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.

Consent – where we specifically ask you for permission to process information for a particular purpose and consent is the appropriate lawful basis.

Where processing relies upon consent, you may withdraw your consent at any time. Withdrawal does not affect processing that was lawful before consent was withdrawn.

The ICO confirms that organisations must identify an appropriate lawful basis for each processing purpose; legitimate interests is available where appropriate but isn't automatically the correct basis for every activity.

7. Sharing information with drivers

To fulfil a taxi booking, we need to provide certain information to the driver carrying out the journey.

Depending upon the booking, this may include:

Passenger name;
Pickup address or location;
Destination;
Telephone/contact information;
Booking time;
Relevant booking instructions; and
Other information reasonably necessary to fulfil the journey.

Drivers should only use this information as necessary to fulfil the booking and for other lawful purposes connected with providing the service.

This continues the principle already contained in our existing terms, which explains that booking information including the user's pickup location, name and mobile number is provided so a taxi driver can receive and fulfil the booking.

8. Other organisations we may share information with

Where necessary, personal information may also be shared with organisations that help us operate our services.

These may include:

Booking and dispatch software providers;
App and technology providers, including providers supporting our Booking and Driver Apps;
Payment processing providers;
IT, hosting and communications providers;
Professional advisers such as accountants, solicitors and insurers;
Corporate or account customers where appropriate and lawful;
Licensing or regulatory authorities;
Police, courts and other public authorities where disclosure is required or permitted by law; and
Other suppliers and contractors providing services on our behalf.

Where another organisation processes personal information on our behalf, we take appropriate steps to ensure the information is handled in accordance with applicable data protection requirements.

We do not sell customer personal information to third parties for their own marketing purposes.

9. Payments

Where you pay for a journey electronically, information necessary to process the transaction may be provided to our payment service provider.

Payment providers may process information including payment card details, transaction information and fraud-prevention information in accordance with their own security and data-protection arrangements.

We do not use your payment information for purposes unrelated to processing or administering payments except where necessary to prevent fraud, resolve disputes or comply with legal obligations.

10. Telephone calls

Telephone calls between customers and Taunton Taxi Services may be recorded.

Recordings may be used for purposes including:

Staff training;
Quality monitoring;
Investigating complaints or disputes;
Confirming booking information;
Protecting customers, drivers and staff;
Preventing or investigating misuse or fraud; and
Establishing, exercising or defending legal claims.

Your existing policy already informs customers that calls between customers and the office or drivers are recorded for monitoring purposes.

11. Marketing communications

We may contact existing or prospective customers with information about Taunton Taxi Services where we are permitted to do so under applicable law.

Where consent is required, we will obtain it before sending the communication.

You can ask us to stop sending direct marketing communications at any time by using any unsubscribe option provided or by contacting:

info@taxis-in-taunton.com

Stopping marketing communications will not prevent us from contacting you with necessary information relating to an active booking, your account or another service you have requested.

12. Cookies and website information

Our website may use cookies and similar technologies to enable website functionality, remember preferences, understand how our website is used and improve our services.

Where required, we will ask for permission before placing non-essential cookies or similar technologies on your device.

More detailed information about the cookies used on our website may be provided through our cookie notice or cookie-management facility.

13. How long we keep your information

We keep personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected and to satisfy applicable legal, regulatory, tax, accounting, licensing, insurance or reporting requirements.

Different categories of information may therefore be retained for different periods.

When deciding how long information should be retained, we consider:

Why the information was collected;
Whether it remains necessary to provide our services;
Legal and regulatory requirements;
Tax and accounting requirements;
Licensing requirements;
The possibility of complaints or legal claims; and
The nature and sensitivity of the information.

When personal information is no longer required, we will delete, anonymise or securely dispose of it as appropriate.

The ICO requires privacy information to state the retention period or, where a fixed period isn't available, explain the criteria used to determine it.

14. International transfers

Some technology, hosting, communications or other service providers may process information outside the United Kingdom.

Where personal information is transferred internationally, we will take appropriate steps required by UK data protection law to ensure that the information receives an appropriate level of protection.

Where applicable, this may include relying on UK adequacy regulations or approved contractual safeguards.

15. Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against unauthorised access, loss, alteration, disclosure or destruction.

Access to personal information should be limited to people who have a legitimate business need to access it.

No internet, mobile or electronic information system can, however, be guaranteed to be completely secure.

16. Your data protection rights

Depending upon the circumstances and the lawful basis being relied upon, UK data protection law may give you rights including:

Right of access – to request a copy of personal information we hold about you;
Right to rectification – to ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information;
Right to erasure – to ask us to delete personal information in certain circumstances;
Right to restriction – to ask us to restrict the way we process information in certain circumstances;
Right to data portability – to receive certain information in a portable format where the right applies;
Right to object – to object to certain processing, including direct marketing; and
Right to withdraw consent – where we rely on consent, you may withdraw that consent.

These rights are not absolute and whether a particular right applies can depend upon the circumstances and lawful basis for processing.

To exercise your rights, contact:

info@taxis-in-taunton.com

The ICO specifically requires privacy information to explain the rights available to individuals, and the rights that apply can differ according to the lawful basis used.

Your right to object

You have the right to object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.

You also have the right to object at any time to the use of your personal information for direct marketing purposes.

17. Complaints

If you are concerned about how we have used your personal information, please contact us first so that we can investigate your concerns:

Email: info@taxis-in-taunton.com
Telephone: 01823 248 248

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data protection regulator.

Further information is available from the Information Commissioner's Office.

The right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority is one of the pieces of information the ICO says should be included in privacy information.

18. Children's information

Our transport services may from time to time involve journeys for children or young people.

Where a booking is made on behalf of a child, we may process information about the passenger that is reasonably necessary to arrange and fulfil the journey.

We will only use such information for legitimate purposes connected with providing the service, safeguarding passengers, administering the booking or complying with applicable legal obligations.

19. Information provided by another person or organisation

Sometimes a booking may be made for you by another person or organisation, such as:

A family member;
School;
Business;
Local authority;
Travel provider; or
Other account customer.

In those circumstances we may receive personal information about you from that person or organisation rather than directly from you.

We use that information where necessary to arrange, manage and fulfil the requested transport service and for associated lawful purposes.

The ICO requires organisations obtaining personal information from another source to provide relevant privacy information, generally within a reasonable period and no later than one month unless an exception applies.

20. Fraud and misuse

We may process information where reasonably necessary to detect, investigate or prevent fraudulent bookings, payment fraud, misuse of our services or other unlawful activity.

Where appropriate, information may be disclosed to payment providers, professional advisers, law enforcement or other relevant organisations.

21. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to our services, applications, technology, suppliers or legal obligations.

The latest version will be published on our website and the Last updated date at the top of this policy will be changed.

Where a change materially affects how we use personal information, we will take appropriate steps to bring the change to the attention of affected individuals.

The ICO recommends regularly reviewing privacy information and informing people about new uses of their information before beginning the new processing.

22. Contact us

For questions about this Privacy Policy, the personal information we hold about you, or to exercise your data protection rights, please contact: