Last updated: June 2026
1. Introduction
This website www.boattransport.co.uk (“our Site”) is operated by Boat Transport Limited (“we”, “us” or “our”), a company registered in England and Wales under company number 4566739, with our registered office and main trading address at 7 Fairview Drive, Hythe, Southampton, SO45 5GX.
We take the privacy of our website users, customers and any other individuals whose personal data we process (“you” or “your”) very seriously. This Privacy and Cookie Policy (“Policy”) explains how we collect, store and use information about you, and your rights in relation to that information.
Please read this Policy carefully. By using our Site or our services, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Policy. If you do not agree with it, please stop using our Site.
We keep this Policy under regular review and will update it from time to time. We will notify you of any significant changes by posting a notice on our Site.
2. Who We Are — Data Controller
For the purposes of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (“UK GDPR”) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (“DPA 2018”) (together, “Data Protection Law”), Boat Transport Limited is the Data Controller. This means we determine the purposes and means of processing your personal data and are responsible for it being processed lawfully.
We do not have a designated Data Protection Officer, as we are not legally required to appoint one under current Data Protection Law. If you have any questions about how we process your personal data, please contact us using the details in Section 13.
3. Personal Data We Collect
We collect and process the following categories of personal data about you:
3.1 Information you provide to us
- Name and contact details (postal address, email address, telephone number)
- Payment and billing information
- Details of your enquiry, quotation request or order
- Communications you send to us (emails, telephone calls, correspondence)
- Any other information you choose to provide to us
3.2 Information we collect automatically
When you visit our Site, we may automatically collect technical information about your device and browsing behaviour through the use of cookies and similar technologies. Please see Section 11 (Cookies) for full details.
3.3 Information from third parties
We may occasionally receive information about you from other sources, including:
- Credit reference and fraud prevention agencies
- Other organisations where you have consented to the sharing of your data
- Trusted third parties who assist us with our marketing activities
Any such information will be combined with the information we already hold about you.
Note: We do not knowingly collect personal data from individuals under the age of 16. Our services are intended for adults only. If we become aware that we have collected personal data from a person under 16, we will delete it without delay. Please contact us at admin@boattransport.co.uk if you have any concerns.
4. Legal Basis for Processing
Under UK GDPR, we must have a lawful basis for processing your personal data. Depending on the purpose of processing, we rely on one or more of the following:
- Contract performance: Processing is necessary to perform a contract with you, or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract (e.g. providing a quotation, delivering transport services).
- Legal obligation: Processing is necessary to comply with our legal obligations (e.g. financial record-keeping requirements, fraud prevention, responding to legal requests).
- Legitimate interests: Processing is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and interests. We carry out a Legitimate Interests Assessment (LIA) before relying on this basis. A summary of our LIA is available on request.
- Consent: Where we rely on your consent (e.g. for certain marketing communications or non-essential cookies), you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal of consent will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before you withdrew it.
5. How We Use Your Personal Data
We use your personal data for the following purposes:
- Identifying you and managing your account or relationship with us
- Processing and fulfilling your orders and service requests
- Providing quotations and communicating with you about our services
- Processing payments and managing our financial records
- Fraud detection and prevention
- Complying with our legal and regulatory obligations
- Improving our website and services through analysis and research
- Marketing communications (see Section 6 below)
- Monitoring and recording communications for quality, training, fraud prevention and compliance purposes
6. Marketing
We may use your personal data to send you marketing communications about our services by email, in the following circumstances:
- Existing customers: If you have previously purchased services from us, we may send you details of similar services under our legitimate interests. We have carried out a Legitimate Interests Assessment and concluded that this is a proportionate use of your data. You can opt out at any time.
- New contacts (with consent): If you have not previously purchased from us or made an enquiry, we will only send you marketing communications where you have given us your prior consent to do so.
You can opt out of marketing at any time by:
- Clicking the unsubscribe link in any marketing email we send
- Emailing us at admin@boattransport.co.uk
Opting out of marketing will not affect our ability to contact you about your existing orders or services.
7. Sharing Your Personal Data
We may share your personal data with the following categories of recipients:
- Other companies within our group
- Suppliers, subcontractors, agents and service providers who assist us in delivering our services (we ensure appropriate data protection agreements are in place)
- Credit reference and fraud prevention agencies
- Law enforcement agencies, where required in connection with lawful investigations or prevention of crime
- Regulatory bodies, in response to official requests or legal obligations
- Professional advisers (e.g. lawyers, accountants, insurers)
- A buyer or prospective buyer of our business — in which case your data may be disclosed to advisers and passed to the new business owners
We do not sell your personal data to third parties.
8. International Data Transfers
From time to time, we may need to transfer your personal data to countries outside the United Kingdom. This may occur, for example, where we use service providers or suppliers based in other countries.
Where we transfer personal data internationally, we ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your data in accordance with UK Data Protection Law. These safeguards may include:
- Transfers to countries that have been granted UK adequacy regulations (meaning the UK government has determined that the country provides an adequate level of protection)
- Use of International Data Transfer Agreements (IDTAs) or the UK Addendum to Standard Contractual Clauses
- Other legally recognised transfer mechanisms
You may request details of the safeguards we rely on for any specific transfer by contacting us using the details in Section 13.
9. How Long We Keep Your Data
We retain personal data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by law. The table below sets out our standard retention periods:
| Data Category | Retention Period | Legal Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Customer contact & contract data | Duration of contract + 7 years | Legal obligation / contract |
| Enquiry / quotation data | 7 years from enquiry date | Legitimate interests |
| Marketing preferences | Until consent withdrawn or opt-out | Consent |
| Financial / payment records | 7 years | Legal obligation (HMRC) |
| Communication records (calls, emails) | 7 years | Legitimate interests |
| Website usage / cookie data | Up to 13 months | Consent / legitimate interests |
| Fraud prevention records | As required by law | Legal obligation |
After the relevant retention period, your personal data will be securely deleted or anonymised. Where we are required to retain data for longer periods due to legal or regulatory obligations, we will do so and inform you where appropriate.
10. Keeping Your Data Secure
We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, accidental loss, disclosure or destruction. These measures are reviewed and updated in line with good industry practice.
However, please be aware that the transmission of data over the internet is not completely secure. Whilst we take all reasonable steps to protect your data, we cannot guarantee the security of data transmitted to our Site. Any transmission is at your own risk. Once we receive your data, we apply strict procedures and security measures to prevent unauthorised access.
11. Cookies
11.1 What are cookies?
Cookies are small text files placed on your device when you visit a website. They are widely used to make websites work or to improve their functionality and performance, and to provide information to the owners of the site.
11.2 How we use cookies
Our Site uses the following categories of cookies:
| Category | Purpose | Examples | Retention |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strictly Necessary | Essential for the website to function (e.g. session management, security) | WordPress session cookies | Session |
| Analytics / Performance | Help us understand how visitors use our Site so we can improve it (e.g. Google Analytics via Google Tag Manager) | Google Analytics (_ga, _gid) | Up to 13 months |
| Functional | Remember your preferences and settings | Cookie consent preferences | Up to 12 months |
11.3 Cookie consent
Strictly necessary cookies do not require your consent and are always active. All other cookies will only be placed on your device with your prior consent, which you can give or withhold via our cookie consent banner when you first visit our Site.
You can change your cookie preferences at any time by clearing your browser’s cookies and revisiting our Site, or by adjusting your browser settings to refuse cookies. Please note that disabling certain cookies may affect the functionality of our Site.
For more information about cookies generally, please visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org.
12. Your Rights
Under UK GDPR, you have the following rights in relation to your personal data:
| Your Right | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Right of Access | Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you. |
| Right to Rectification | Ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data. |
| Right to Erasure | Ask us to delete your data in certain circumstances. |
| Right to Restrict Processing | Ask us to limit how we use your data. |
| Right to Data Portability | Receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format. |
| Right to Object | Object to processing based on legitimate interests or for direct marketing. |
| Rights re: Automated Decisions | Not to be subject to solely automated decision-making that affects you legally. |
To exercise any of your rights, please contact us in writing using the details in Section 13. We will respond to your request within one month, although this may be extended by a further two months in complex cases — we will notify you if this is the case.
You will not normally be charged a fee for exercising your rights. However, if a request is manifestly unfounded or excessive, we may charge a reasonable administrative fee or refuse to act on it.
We may need to verify your identity before we can fulfil your request.
13. Complaints
If you have concerns about how we collect or use your personal data, we encourage you to contact us in the first instance so that we can try to resolve your concern via admin@boattransport.co.uk.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint at any time with the UK’s supervisory authority:
Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO): Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF
ICO Helpline: 0303 123 1113
ICO Website: https://ico.org.uk/concerns/
14. Information About Third Parties
If you provide us with personal data about another individual (for example, where you are arranging transport on behalf of a third party), you confirm that:
- The third party has authorised you to act on their behalf
- You are able to give consent on their behalf to the processing of their personal data
- They are aware of this Policy and how their data will be used
15. Contact Us
If you have any questions, concerns or requests relating to this Policy or your personal data, please contact us:
- By email: admin@boattransport.co.uk
- By post: Boat Transport Limited, 7 Fairview Drive, Hythe, Southampton, SO45 5GX
- By telephone: +44 (0) 7831 486710 (Monday to Saturday)
Note: This Policy was last reviewed and updated in June 2026. We recommend reviewing this page periodically for any updates. Significant changes will be notified on our website.