Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

Plant Hire Compare is a trading name of mtd Simple Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales. We operate the website at planthirecompare.co.uk (the “Site”), a directory that helps UK contractors and construction professionals compare plant and equipment hire companies.

For the purposes of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018, we are the data controller. If you have any questions about how we handle your data, you can contact us at hello@planthirecompare.co.uk.

2. What Data We Collect

We may collect and process the following personal data:

• Contact information: Name, email address, phone number, and company name when you submit a quote request, claim a listing, or contact us.
• Usage data: Information about how you use our Site, including pages visited, time spent on pages, click-through data, and search queries.
• Device and technical data: IP address, browser type and version, operating system, screen resolution, and referring website.
• Location data: Approximate location derived from your IP address, used to show relevant local results.
• Cookie data: Information collected via cookies and similar tracking technologies. See our Cookie Policy for full details.

3. How We Use Your Data

We use the data we collect for the following purposes:

• To provide and maintain our directory service, including displaying search results and company listings.
• To process and forward your quote requests to relevant plant hire companies.
• To process listing claims and verify business ownership.
• To send you relevant communications if you have opted in, including price alerts and industry updates.
• To analyse usage patterns and improve the Site's content, features, and user experience.
• To detect, prevent, and address technical issues, fraud, or abuse.
• To comply with legal obligations.

4. Legal Basis for Processing

Under UK GDPR, we rely on the following lawful bases for processing your personal data:

• Consent: Where you have given clear consent for us to process your data for a specific purpose (e.g. marketing emails, non-essential cookies).
• Legitimate interests: Where processing is necessary for our legitimate business interests, such as improving our services and understanding how the Site is used, provided these interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms.
• Contract performance: Where processing is necessary to fulfil a request you have made, such as forwarding a quote request to a hire company.
• Legal obligation: Where we are required to process data to comply with UK law.

5. Sharing Your Data

We may share your personal data with the following categories of recipients:

• Plant hire companies: When you submit a quote request, we share your contact details and requirements with the companies you have selected so they can respond to your enquiry.
• Service providers: We use third-party service providers for hosting (Vercel), database management (Supabase), and analytics. These providers process data on our behalf under data processing agreements.
• Legal and regulatory bodies: We may disclose data where required by law, regulation, or court order.

We do not sell your personal data to third parties.

6. International Transfers

Some of our third-party service providers may process data outside the United Kingdom. Where this occurs, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) or transfers to countries with an adequacy decision, to protect your personal data in accordance with UK GDPR.

7. Data Retention

We retain your personal data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this policy. Quote request data is retained for up to 24 months. Analytics data is retained in aggregated, anonymised form. If you have an account or claimed listing, we retain your data for the duration of the account plus 12 months after closure. You may request earlier deletion at any time by contacting us.

8. Your Rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the following rights in relation to your personal data:

• Right of access: You can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Right to rectification: You can ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Right to erasure: You can ask us to delete your personal data in certain circumstances.
• Right to restrict processing: You can ask us to limit how we use your data.
• Right to data portability: You can request your data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format.
• Right to object: You can object to processing based on legitimate interests or for direct marketing purposes.
• Rights related to automated decision-making: You have the right not to be subject to decisions based solely on automated processing that significantly affect you.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at hello@planthirecompare.co.uk. We will respond within one month. If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.

9. Data Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These measures include encryption of data in transit (TLS/SSL), secure hosting infrastructure, access controls, and regular security reviews. However, no method of transmission over the internet is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

10. Children's Privacy

Our Site is not directed at individuals under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe we have inadvertently collected data from a child, please contact us and we will take steps to delete it promptly.

11. Third-Party Links

Our Site contains links to third-party websites, including plant hire company websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of these external sites. We encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. We will post the updated policy on this page and update the “Last updated” date. We encourage you to review this page periodically. Material changes will be communicated via a notice on the Site where appropriate.

13. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or our data practices, please contact us:

• Email: hello@planthirecompare.co.uk
• Website: planthirecompare.co.uk