Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how LoadHaus Ltd ("LoadHaus", "we", "us", "our") collects and uses personal data when you use the LoadHaus platform. We are the controller of the personal data we process under this policy for the purposes of the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Data we collect

• Account & organisation data: name, email, phone number, company name, Companies House number, role (contractor/driver/fleet).
• Vehicle & compliance data: vehicle registration, make/model, insurance, operator licence, MOT, waste-carrier licence and expiry dates. Admin reviews these to approve or reject documents.
• Marketplace activity: jobs posted, interests expressed, assignments, loads confirmed (including photo evidence, timestamp, geolocation), messages, reviews, and ratings.
• Billing data: subscription tier, billing period, Stripe customer and subscription IDs. Card details are held by Stripe, not LoadHaus.
• Technical data: IP address, user-agent, basic session logs, and audit records for security and dispute resolution.

2. How we use your data

• Operating the marketplace — matching contractors with drivers and enabling them to communicate.
• Verifying identity and compliance — Companies House lookups, admin document approval.
• Billing — taking payment via Stripe; enforcing tier load limits.
• Dispute evidence — tip-ticket photos, timestamps and geolocation confirm that a load took place.
• Safety and fraud prevention — spotting unusual usage patterns and suspending abusive accounts.
• Operational communication — email about password resets, document approvals, job expiry, and load confirmation.

3. Lawful basis

We rely on the following bases under UK GDPR Article 6:

• Contract: providing the service you signed up for.
• Legal obligation: VAT, tax, waste-carrier and operator-licence compliance.
• Legitimate interest: fraud prevention, platform safety, product improvement, and limited marketing to existing customers about our own services.

4. Cookies

LoadHaus uses a small set of cookies. Essential cookies (session and CSRF) are required to keep you signed in and secure the site — they are set regardless of consent. Optional cookies (analytics) are only set if you click "Accept" on the cookie banner. You can change your mind at any time by clearing the loadhaus_cookie_consent cookie from your browser and reloading the page.

5. Sharing your data

• Other users: counterparties on a job see your organisation name, rating, and — once an interest is accepted — your contact details.
• Stripe: payment processing.
• SMTP email provider: transactional email delivery.
• Companies House API: for organisation verification (read only).
• Google Maps API: for distance-lookup on job creation.
• Hosting/infrastructure: our cloud hosting provider stores the platform database on a persistent UK/EU volume.

We do not sell personal data and never will.

6. Data retention

Account data is retained while your account is active and for up to 12 months after deletion for dispute-resolution. Financial and tax records are retained for 6 years in line with UK HMRC requirements. Load photos and evidence are retained for 3 years from job completion. Audit logs are retained for 12 months.

7. Your rights

Under UK GDPR you have the right to:

• Access a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Ask us to correct or delete your personal data (subject to legal retention requirements above).
• Object to processing based on legitimate interests, including direct marketing.
• Request restriction of processing or data portability.
• Withdraw consent for optional cookies at any time.
• Complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) — ico.org.uk.

8. Security

All sessions are protected by HTTP-only, SameSite cookies and — in production — by TLS. Passwords are hashed with bcrypt. CSRF protection is applied to all state-changing requests. Access to the admin console is logged.

9. Contact

For privacy questions or to exercise your rights, email privacy@loadhaus.co.uk. LoadHaus Ltd is registered in England and Wales.