SSA UK Privacy Policy

Privacy notice and consent

This notice explains how information about you is collected and used. This website is operated by Pixl8 on behalf of the Self Storage Association UK (SSA UK).

We take your privacy very seriously and we ask that you read this privacy policy carefully as it contains important information on:

  • the personal information we collect about you
  • what we do with your information, and
  • who your information might be shared with.

Who we are

The Self Storage Association UK is a 'data controller' for the purposes of the General Data Protection Regulations.  This means we are responsible for, and control the processing of, your personal information. The person responsible for how we handle personal information is Rennie Schafer who can be contacted at [email protected].

What information we collect?

Personal information provided by you

We collect personal information about you (such as your name, postal address, email address, phone numbers, payment details and business details when you sign up to participate in or receive a service from us, such as applying for membership, getting a quote from members or registering to attend an event.   We also collect personal information when you contact us, send us feedback, or complete customer surveys.  Our website also uses cookies (see “Use of cookies” section below) and collects IP addresses (which means a number that can uniquely identify a specific computer or other device on the internet). 

Personal information provided by third parties

Occasionally we may receive information about you from other sources (such as credit reference agencies), which we will add to the information we already hold about you in order to help us provide services to you and to improve and personalise our service to you.

Personal information about other individuals

If you give us information on behalf of someone else, you confirm that the other person has appointed you to act on his/her behalf and has agreed that you can:

  • give consent on his/her behalf to the processing of his/her personal data;
  • receive on his/her behalf any data protection notices; and
  • give consent to the transfer of his/her personal data abroad.

Sensitive personal information

We will not usually ask you to provide sensitive personal information. We will only ask you to provide sensitive personal information if we need to for a specific reason, for example, if we believe you are having difficulty dealing with your account due to illness. If we request such information, we will explain why we are requesting it and how we intend to use it.

Sensitive personal information includes information relating to:

  • your ethnic origin
  • your political opinions
  • your religious beliefs
  • whether you belong to a trade union
  • your physical or mental health or condition
  • your sexual life, and
  • whether you have committed a criminal offence

We will only collect your sensitive personal information with your explicit consent.

Children

We do not knowingly collect personal data relating to children under the age of 16. If you are a parent or guardian of a child under the age of 16 and think that we may have information relating to that child, please contact us at [email protected].  We will ask you to prove your relationship to the child but if you do so you may (subject to applicable law) request access to and deletion of that child’s personal data.

How do we collect information from you?

We gather information directly from you and also via our websites and mobile applications or ‘Apps’ and other technical systems.

We may monitor and record communications with you (such as telephone conversations and emails).  We may do this for a number of reasons, such as to check the quality of our customer service, for training purposes, to prevent fraud or to make sure we are complying with legal requirements.

Use of cookies

A cookie is a small text file which is placed onto your computer (or other electronic device such as a mobile telephone or tablet) when you use our website. We use cookies and on our website and may also use other similar tracking technologies such as web beacons, action tags, Local Shared Objects (‘Flash cookies’) or single-pixel gifs on our website. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. This information is only processed in a way which does not identify you individually. We use analysis software to look at IP addresses and cookies to improve your experience as a user of our website. We do not use this information to develop a personal profile of you. If we do collect personally identifiable information, we will be up front about this. We will make it clear when we collect personal information and will explain what we intend to do with it.

You can set your browser not to accept cookies and the websites below tell you how to remove cookies from your browser. However, some of our website features may not function as a result.

The cookies used on our site are as follows:

Cookie 1

Google Analytics (_utma, _utmb, _utmc, _utmz)

These cookies are used to collect information about how our visitors use our website. We use this information to see what visitors have found particular pages of use and how long they stayed on our website. This information is viewed in an anonymous format and also provides information on where our visitors come from.

Cookie 2

PHPSESSID – Login Cookie

This cookie is used to allow users to login to the members area and SSAUK admin area.

How will we use the information about you?

We collect information about you for a number of reasons.

So that we can take steps to enter into a contract with you and provide services to you once that contract is in place, we collect personal information to:

  • identify you and manage any accounts you hold with us;
  • contact you for reasons related to the service you have signed up for or to provide information you have requested;
  • deal with payment for our services;
  • notify you of any changes to our website or to our services that may affect you;
  • do a credit check—see 'Credit checking' section below;
  • resolve disputes or collect overdue payments;
  • Send you newsletters and industry information;
  • conduct industry surveys

We also collect personal information to comply with our legal obligations, for example to comply with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing requirements.

So that we can make sure we give a high quality service, we collect personal information to:

  • conduct research and analyse website visitor behaviour patterns;
  • customise our website and its content to your particular preferences;
  • improve our services;
  • detect and prevent fraud;
  • carry out security vetting; and
  • prevent offensive, inappropriate or objectionable content being sent to or posted on our sites or to stop any other form of disruptive behaviour; If you agree, we will contact you to let you know about other products or services that may be of interest to you—see 'Marketing’ section below;

With your agreement we will also pass your business details only onto supplier members of the Self Storage Association UK.

Credit checking

We may do a credit check on you:

  • so that we can make credit decisions about you and people or businesses associated with you, and
  • to prevent and detect fraud and money laundering

Our search will be recorded on the files of the credit reference agency.

We may also disclose information about how you conduct your account to credit reference agencies and your information may be linked to records relating to other people living at the same address or who are financially linked to you.

Other credit businesses may use your information to:

  • make credit decisions about you and the people with whom you are financially associated
  • trace debtors, and
  • prevent and detect fraud and money laundering

If you provide false or inaccurate information to us and we suspect fraud, we will record this.

When will we contact you?

We may contact you to let you know about any changes to the service you have signed up for or to provide information you have requested.  We may also contact you about relevant industry information and events. You can tell us to stop contacting you for certain information groups at any time – see the section on your rights below. If you ask us to stop contacting you, you can also ask us to start again at any time.

Who your information might be shared with

We may disclose your personal data to:

  • other members of the Self Storage Association UK;
  • service providers under contract with us to support our business operations, such as fraud prevention, debt collection, technology services and credit reference agents;
  • our insurers and insurance brokers if you take out insurance cover through us;
  • law enforcement or government agencies in connection with any investigation to help prevent or detect unlawful activity;
  • any person or agency if we need to share that information to comply with the law or to enforce any agreement we may have with you or to protect the health and safety of any person;
  • the general public through the business listing pages on our website, which you may opt out of at any time; and
  • credit card associations if specifically required;

Keeping your data secure

We will use technical and organisational measures to safeguard your personal data, for example:

  • access to your account is controlled by a password and user name that are unique to you;
  • we store your personal data on secure servers; and
  • payment details are encrypted on the secure server.

We have strict security and confidentiality procedures covering the storage and disclosure of your information in order to keep it safe and to prevent unauthorised access.  We only allow certain authorised employees to have access to your personal information who need to use it to fulfil their job responsibilities. These employees are trained in the proper handling of customer information.  Employees who do not comply with our internal rules are subject to our usual disciplinary procedures.

While we will use all reasonable efforts to keep your personal data safe, you acknowledge that the use of the internet is not entirely secure and for this reason we cannot guarantee the security or integrity of any personal data that is transferred from you or to you via the internet. If you have any particular concerns about your information, please contact us (see ‘How can you contact us?’ below).

Our website may contain links to websites and applications owned and operated by other people and businesses. These third party sites have their own privacy policies and use their own cookies and we recommend that you review them before you provide them with personal information.  They will tell you how your personal information is collected and used whilst you are visiting these other websites.  We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the content of these sites or the use of your information collected by any of these other sites and you use these other sites at your own risk.

What can I do to keep my information safe?

If you want detailed information from Get Safe Online on how to protect your information and your computers and devices against fraud, identity theft, viruses and many other online problems, please visit www.getsafeonline.org. Get Safe Online is supported by HM Government and leading businesses.

How long do we keep your personal information?

We will hold your personal information on our system for as long as is necessary for the service you have requested or for the length of time set out in any contract between us, unless you have told us you want us to remove us from the system (see section “Right to be forgotten” below).

What rights do you have?

Right to request a copy of your information

You can request a copy of your information which we hold (this is known as a subject access request). If you would like a copy of some or all of it, please:

  • email, call or write to us (see ‘How can you contact us?’ below)
  • let us have proof of your identity and address (a copy of your driving licence or passport and a recent utility or credit card bill), and
  • let us know the information you want a copy of, including any account or reference numbers, if you have them

We will not charge any fee for this service in most cases.

Right to correct any mistakes in your information

You can require us to correct any mistakes in your information which we hold free of charge. If you would like to do this, please:

  • email, call or write to us (see ‘How can you contact us?’ below)
  • let us have enough information to identify you (eg membership number, name, registration details), and
  • let us know what information is incorrect and what it should be replaced with

Right to ask us to stop contacting you with direct marketing

You can ask us to stop contacting you for industry information and event marketing purposes. If you would like to do this, please:

  • email, call or write to us (see ‘How can you contact us?’ below). You can also click on the ‘unsubscribe’ button at the bottom of any email newsletter we may send you. It may take up to 14 days for this to take place.
  • let us have proof of your identity and address (a copy of your driving licence or passport and a recent utility or credit card bill), and
  • let us know what method of contact you are not happy with if you are unhappy with certain ways of contacting you only (for example, you may be happy for us to contact you by email but not by telephone)

Right to be forgotten

You can ask us to delete the data we hold about you in certain circumstance. You can do this if it is no longer necessary for us to hold the data for the purpose it was collected (for example if you are no longer a customer), or if we are using it without your consent or you have to ask us to delete it to comply with any of your legal obligations.  You can also do this if you originally gave your consent to us using your information and you want to change your mind, If you would like to do this, please:

  • email, call or write to us (see ‘How can you contact us?’ below).
  • let us have proof of your identity and address (a copy of your driving licence or passport and a recent utility or credit card bill), and
  • let us know why you would like us to delete your data from our systems.

We will take steps to make sure the information is deleted from our systems and by any people who are processing your information for us unless we have to carry on using the information for legal reasons.

How to contact us

Please contact us if you have any questions about this privacy policy or the information we hold about you.

If you wish to contact us, please send an email to [email protected] or write to us at Priestley House, Nantwich, CW5 5SZ or call us on +44 1270 623 150

Changes to the privacy policy

We may change this privacy policy from time to time. You should check this policy occasionally to ensure you are aware of the most recent version that will apply each time you access our website.

Website cookie policy

Use of cookies

A cookie is a small text file which is placed onto your computer (or other electronic device) when you access our website. We use cookies on this website and occasionally other online tracking devices such as web beacons, action tags, Local Shared Objects (‘Flash cookies’) and single-pixel gifs on this website to:

  • [keep track of the items stored in your shopping basket and take you through the checkout process];
  • recognise you whenever you visit this website (this speeds up your access to the website as you do not have to log in each time);
  • obtain information about your preferences, online movements and use of the internet;
  • carry out research and statistical analysis to help improve our content , products and services and to help us better understand our visitors and customers requirements and interests;
  • target our marketing and advertising campaigns more effectively by providing interest-based advertisements that are personalised to your interests; and
  • make your online experience more efficient and enjoyable.

The information we obtain from our use of cookies will not usually contain your personal data. Although we may obtain information about your computer [or other electronic device] such as your IP address, your browser and/or other internet log information, this will not usually identify you personally.  In certain circumstances we may collect personal information about you—but only where you voluntarily provide it (eg by completing an online form) or where you purchase goods or services from us.

In most cases we will need your consent in order to use cookies on this website. The exception is where the cookie is essential in order for us to provide you with a service you have requested (eg to enable you to put items in your shopping basket and use our check-out process).

Consent—option 1 (browser settings):

If you visit our website when your browser is set to accept cookies, we will interpret this as an indication that you consent to our use of cookies and other similar technologies as described in this website cookie policy. If you change your mind in the future about letting us use cookies, you can modify the settings of your browser to reject cookies or disable cookies completely.

Third-party cookies

We work with third party suppliers who may also set cookies on our website, for example Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Adobe Flashplayer which we use to display video content. These third party suppliers are responsible for the cookies they set on our site. If you want further information please go to the website for the relevant third party. You will find additional information in the table below.

Description of cookies

The table below provides more information about the cookies we use and why:

Cookie 1

Google Analytics (_utma, _utmb, _utmc, _utmz)

These cookies are used to collect information about how our visitors use our website. We use this information to see what visitors have found particular pages of use and how long they stayed on our website. This information is viewed in an anonymous format and also provides information on where our visitors come from.

Cookie 2

PHPSESSID – Login Cookie

This cookie is used to allow users to login to the members area and SSAUK admin area.

How to turn off cookies

If you do not want to accept cookies, you can change your browser settings so that cookies are not accepted. If you do this, please be aware that you may lose some of the functionality of this website. For further information about cookies and how to disable them please go to the Information Commissioner’s webpage on cookies: https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/online/cookies/.