At Universal Tyres, we’re committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.
This Policy explains when and why we collect personal information about our customers and staff, how we use it, the conditions under which we may disclose it to others and how we keep it secure.
We may change this Policy from time to time so please check this page occasionally to ensure that you’re happy with any changes.
Any questions regarding this Policy and our privacy practices should be sent by email to enquiries@universal-tyres.co.uk or by writing to Universal Tyres, Units 8-9 Orbital One, Green Street Green Road, Dartford, Kent, DA1 1QG. Alternatively, you can telephone 01322 421980.
Who are we?
We’re The Universal Tyre Co (Deptford) Limited, the largest independent retail and commercial tyre & autocentre specialists in the South East of England. We trade under the name ‘Universal Tyre & Autocentres’ and have been a registered company (no. 00278970) since our incorporation back in 1933. The registered address is Units 8-9 Orbital One, Green Street Green Road, Dartford, Kent, DA1 1QG.
How do we collect information from you?
How we collect information from you depends on whether you are a customer of Universal Tyres or an employee.
Customers
We obtain information about you when you employ our services or enquire about any services that we offer, this will include any applications for credit, quotations for goods and/or services as well as the purchase of goods and/or services.
What type of information is collected from you?
The personal information we collect might include your name, address, phone number, email address, vehicle registration and in the case of credit customers any business (including fleet) or contact details required to fulfil our contractual obligation to you.
How is your information used?
We may use your information for the following purposes:
- · To process orders from you for goods and services
- · To deal with any enquiries we receive from you
- · To contact you directly to discuss your purchase, for example, to arrange collection of your vehicle
- · As proof of purchase of goods/services in the event of warranty claims
- · To enable us to service your vehicle/fleet and to provide you with the necessary paperwork and authorisation required
- · To credit check you or your organisation in respect of credit applications or ongoing credit facilities
- · To comply with applicable laws, regulations and rules
- · For the purposes of recovery of a debt in case of non-payment
- · To contact you periodically to remind you of upcoming deadlines i.e. MOT reminders
We review our retention periods for personal information on a regular basis. We are legally required to hold some types of information to fulfil our statutory obligations. We will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as is necessary for the relevant activity, or as long as is set out in any relevant contract you hold with us.
On what lawful basis do we hold this information?
The information we hold about you is held under the following lawful bases:
- 1. Contract – With the exception of periodic marketing, all the information we hold about you is necessary for the fulfilment of our contractual obligations.
- 2. Legitimate Interests – We may on occasions contact you to remind you of legal deadlines with respect to your vehicle/vehicles such as MOT reminders.
Who has access to your information?
We will not sell or rent your information to third parties and we will not share your information with third parties for marketing purposes.
Your choices
You have a choice about whether you wish to receive information from us. If you do not want to receive direct marketing communications from us, then please contact the depot at which you have had the work completed and advise them accordingly. Alternatively, you can email us at enquires@universal-tyres.co.uk or phone us on 01322 421980.
Employees
We obtain information about you when you enter our employment or when you enquire about a vacancy we have within the business.
What type of information is collected from you?
The personal information we collect might include your name, address, DOB, phone number, email address, passport details, driving licence details, bank details, contacts and dependents details, medical history and any other information necessary to fulfil the specific terms of your contract of employment.
How is your information used?
We will use your information to:
- · Process your remuneration – including any/all pension obligations
- · To ensure adherence to any/all Health & Safety policies and procedures
- · To help in the management of your employment, for example, recording holiday allowances, performance management reporting or the maintenance of company bonus schemes and reward schemes.
- · To contact you to keep you up to date with company newsletters and announcements
We review our retention periods for personal information on a regular basis. We are legally required to hold some types of information to fulfil our statutory obligations. We will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as is necessary for the relevant activity, or as long as is set out in any relevant contract you hold with us.
On what lawful basis do we hold this information?
The information we hold about you is held under the following lawful basis:
1. Contract – All of the information we hold about you is necessary for the fulfilment of our contractual obligations.
Who has access to your information?
We will not sell or rent your information to third parties and we will not share your information with third parties for marketing purposes outside of those relating directly to your employment with Universal Tyres.
We may pass your information to our third-party service providers, agents, subcontractors and other associated organisations for the purposes of completing tasks and providing services to you on our behalf (for example our self-service payroll providers or our company reward scheme administrators). However, when we use third party service providers, we disclose only the personal information that is necessary to deliver the service and we have a contract in place that requires them to keep your information secure and not to use it for their own direct marketing purposes. Please be reassured that we will not release your information to third parties beyond the Universal Tyres network for them to use for their own direct marketing purposes, unless you have requested us to do so, or we are required to do so by law, for example, by a court order or for the purposes of prevention of fraud or other crime.
We work closely with various third-party product providers to bring you a range of quality and reliable products and services. When you enquire about or purchase one or more of these products, the relevant third-party product provider will use your details to provide you with information and carry out their obligations arising from any contracts you have entered into with them. In some cases, they will be acting as a data controller of your information and therefore we advise you to read their Privacy Policy. These third-party product providers will share your information with us which we will use in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
We may transfer your personal information to a third party as part of a sale of some or all of our business and assets to any third party or as part of any business restructuring or reorganisation, or if we’re under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation or to enforce or apply our terms of use or to protect the rights, property or safety of our supporters and customers. However, we will take steps with the aim of ensuring that your privacy rights continue to be protected.
Right to rectification
The accuracy of your information is important to us. We’re working on ways to make it easier for you to review and correct the information that we hold about you. In the meantime, if you change email address, or any of the other information we hold is inaccurate or out of date, please contact your nearest depot or sales representative and they will be happy to update the information accordingly. For employees, please contact our HR department on HR@universal-tyres.co.uk
Right of access
You have the right to ask for a copy of the information Universal Tyres hold about you. This information is usually provided free of charge. However, a reasonable fee may be charged when a request is manifestly unfounded or excessive. Any charges due will be communicated to you in advance.
Security precautions in place to protect the loss, misuse or alteration of your information
When you give us personal information, we take steps to ensure that it’s treated securely. Any sensitive information is stored on our secure systems and servers and protected by passwords and access rights. Where manual records are maintained, these are locked in secure locations and accessed only by the appropriate personal.
As an organisation we have full Cyber Essentials security certification (certificate no. 0215933278529786).
Non-sensitive details (your email address etc.) may be transmitted normally over the Internet, and this can never be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk. Once we receive your information, we make our best effort to ensure its security on our systems.
Use of ‘cookies’
Like many other websites, the Universal Tyres website uses cookies. ‘Cookies’ are small pieces of information sent by an organisation to your computer and stored on your hard drive to allow that website to recognise you when you visit. They collect statistical data about your browsing actions and patterns and do not identify you as an individual. For example, we use cookies to store your country preference. This helps us to improve our website and deliver a better more personalised service.
It is possible to switch off cookies by setting your browser preferences. For more information on how to switch off cookies on your computer, visit our full cookies policy. Turning cookies of may result in a loss of functionality when using our website.
Links to other websites
Our website may contain links to other websites run by other organisations. This privacy policy applies only to our website and to the services, activities and employment opportunities offered directly by Universal Tyres‚ so we encourage you to read the privacy statements on the other websites you visit. We cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of other sites even if you access them using links from our website.
In addition, if you linked to our website from a third-party site, we cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of the owners and operators of that third-party site and recommend that you check the policy of that third-party site.
Transferring your information outside of Europe
As part of the services offered to you through this website, the information which you provide to us may be transferred to countries outside the European Union (“EU”). By way of example, this may happen if any of our servers are from time to time located in a country outside of the EU. These countries may not have similar data protection laws to the UK. By submitting your personal data, you’re agreeing to this transfer, storing or processing. If we transfer your information outside of the EU in this way, we will take steps to ensure that appropriate security measures are taken with the aim of ensuring that your privacy rights continue to be protected as outlined in this Policy.
If you use our services while you are outside the EU, your information may be transferred outside the EU to provide you with those services.
Review of this Policy
We keep this Policy under regular review. This Policy was last updated in May 2018.