Data Controller
Who We Are
Express Travel Kent is a licensed private hire and chauffeur service operating throughout Kent, United Kingdom. We act as the data controller for personal information collected through our website, telephone bookings and our third-party booking system.
If you have any questions regarding this policy or the data we hold about you, you may contact us directly:
- Company: Express Travel Kent
- Telephone: 01843 247 247
- Email: booking@expresstravelkent.co.uk
- Operating area: Kent, United Kingdom
We are committed to complying with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.
Information
Data We Collect
We collect personal information only where it is necessary to provide our services, fulfil a booking or respond to your enquiries. The types of data we may collect include:
Booking & Journey Data
- Full name
- Contact telephone number
- Email address
- Pickup and drop-off address or location
- Journey date and time
- Flight number (for airport collections)
- Number of passengers
- Luggage requirements
- Special requirements or instructions
Contact & Enquiry Data
- Name and contact details submitted through telephone or email enquiries
- Message content from direct communications
Technical Data
- IP address and browser type (via standard server logs)
- Pages visited and session duration
- Device type and operating system
- Referring website (if applicable)
We do not collect sensitive personal data (including health records, biometric data or financial credentials) directly through this website.
Usage
How We Use Your Data
Personal information collected through our website and booking processes is used solely for the purposes for which it was provided. Specifically, we use your data to:
- Process and confirm your booking
- Allocate a driver and vehicle to your journey
- Contact you regarding your booking, including confirmation and driver details
- Monitor flight arrival times for airport collections
- Comply with our legal and licensing obligations as a private hire operator
- Respond to enquiries or complaints
- Improve the reliability and quality of our service
We do not use your personal data for unsolicited marketing unless you have explicitly consented to this. We will never sell, rent or trade your personal data to any third party for commercial purposes.
Third Parties
Third-Party Booking System
Our online booking facility is provided by Devero Software (dispatch.deversoftware.com). When you submit a booking through our website, your booking data is processed by Devero's dispatch platform on our behalf.
Devero Software acts as a data processor under our instruction and is contractually obligated to handle your personal data in accordance with applicable data protection law. Data submitted through the booking form is stored and managed within their secure dispatch system.
We encourage you to review Devero Software's own privacy documentation for full details of their data handling practices. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of third-party platforms beyond our instructions to them as processors.
External Integrations
External Services
Our website may incorporate content or functionality from external providers. These services may process certain technical data (such as your IP address) as part of their normal operation. External services relevant to our website include:
- Google Fonts — Used for typography rendering. Google may log font request data. See Google's privacy policy for details.
- Google Maps / Places API — If used to assist with address lookup or route display, Google will process location input. See Google's privacy policy for details.
- Devero Software Booking Embed — Frames our booking form within the website. See Section 4 above.
We minimise the use of external scripts and embeds. Where third-party services are present, we have assessed their proportionality and selected providers who operate within appropriate data protection frameworks.
Payments
Payment Data
Express Travel Kent primarily accepts payment directly at the time of or following the journey, via cash or bank transfer arranged with the driver or operator. We do not currently process card payments through this website, and we do not collect, transmit or store payment card details through any page on this site.
If payment methods expand to include online card processing, this policy will be updated to reflect the relevant payment processor, their security standards (such as PCI DSS compliance) and the data involved.
Retention
Data Retention
We retain personal data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by law. Our general retention guidelines are as follows:
- Booking records: retained for a minimum of 6 years to comply with HMRC and accounting obligations.
- Driver journey logs: retained in accordance with private hire licensing requirements.
- Contact and enquiry data: retained for up to 12 months from the date of your last interaction with us.
- Technical log data: typically retained for not more than 90 days.
After the applicable retention period, data is securely deleted or anonymised.
UK GDPR
Your Rights
Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018, you have the following rights in relation to your personal data:
- Right of access — You may request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
- Right to rectification — You may request that inaccurate or incomplete data is corrected.
- Right to erasure — You may request that we delete your personal data, subject to our legal obligations.
- Right to restriction — You may request that we limit how we use your data in certain circumstances.
- Right to portability — You may request your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
- Right to object — You may object to certain types of processing, including any direct marketing.
- Rights related to automated decision-making — You have the right not to be subject to solely automated decisions that significantly affect you.
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details in the final section of this policy. We will respond to your request within 30 days. There is no charge for exercising your rights in most circumstances.
If you are not satisfied with how we have handled your data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk or by calling 0303 123 1113.
Legal Basis
Lawful Basis for Processing
We process your personal data under one or more of the following lawful bases, as defined under UK GDPR Article 6:
- Contract performance — Processing is necessary to fulfil a booking or service agreement with you.
- Legal obligation — Processing is required to comply with our legal responsibilities as a licensed private hire operator.
- Legitimate interests — We may process data for operational purposes where these do not override your rights, such as improving our service quality and maintaining accurate journey records.
- Consent — Where we send you any optional communications or use non-essential cookies, we will obtain your explicit consent and you may withdraw it at any time.
Protection
Security Measures
We take the security of your personal data seriously and employ appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect it from unauthorised access, disclosure, loss or destruction. These measures include:
- Secure HTTPS connections across all pages of our website
- Restricted access to personal data — limited to staff and contractors with a legitimate need
- Data held by our booking system provider is secured within their infrastructure in accordance with their own data protection commitments
- Prompt review and response to any suspected data breach in accordance with ICO guidelines
No method of electronic transmission or storage is entirely secure. While we take all reasonable steps to protect your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security. In the unlikely event of a data breach affecting your rights and freedoms, we will notify you and the ICO as required by law.
Contact
Contact & Data Requests
For any queries regarding this Privacy Policy, to exercise your data rights, or to request deletion or correction of your personal data, please contact us using the following details:
- Email: booking@expresstravelkent.co.uk
- Telephone: 01843 247 247
- Subject line: Data Privacy Request
We will acknowledge your request promptly and provide a substantive response within 30 calendar days. If your request is complex or involves multiple aspects, we may extend this period by a further two months and will notify you accordingly.
This Privacy Policy was last reviewed in March 2026. We reserve the right to update it at any time. Material changes will be reflected here with an updated revision date. We recommend reviewing this page periodically.