Privacy Policy
Real Drive respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information.
This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, share and protect personal information when you use the Real Drive website, application, platform and related services.
1. Who We Are
Real Drive is a platform that helps learners find and connect with driving instructors and provides services including instructor profiles, lesson bookings, lesson management, payments, reviews, learning progress and related platform services.
For the purposes of UK data protection law, the data controller responsible for personal information processed by Real Drive is:
Professional Service Support Limited
Address: 93 Austin Road, Luton, LU3 1TZ, United Kingdom
Email: pssltdrscab@gmail.com
Where an independent driving instructor processes personal information independently from Real Drive, that instructor may also be responsible for complying with applicable data protection law in relation to their own processing.
2. Information We Collect
The information we collect depends on how you use Real Drive.
Account Information
When you create or use an account, we may collect:
- Full name;
- Email address;
- Telephone number;
- Password and authentication information;
- Profile photograph;
- Account preferences;
- Account type and status.
Passwords are not stored by us in plain text.
Learner Information
If you use Real Drive as a learner, we may collect information including:
- Driving experience;
- Lesson requirements;
- Preferred vehicle type;
- Preferred lesson times;
- Service area or location;
- Booking and lesson history;
- Instructor preferences;
- Lesson-pack or intensive-course information;
- Learning progress recorded through the platform.
Instructor Information
If you use Real Drive as an instructor, we may collect information including:
- Name and contact details;
- Profile photograph;
- ADI or PDI status;
- Instructor registration or verification information;
- Driving licence information where required;
- Vehicle details;
- Insurance information;
- DBS or other verification information where applicable;
- Service areas;
- Experience and languages;
- Lesson prices;
- Availability;
- Reviews and ratings;
- Payment and payout information.
Booking and Lesson Information
When lessons are arranged through Real Drive, we may process:
- Booking date and time;
- Lesson duration;
- Pick-up or meeting location;
- Learner and instructor details;
- Booking status;
- Cancellation or rescheduling information;
- Lesson history;
- Lesson progress information;
- Information connected with lesson packs or intensive courses;
- Communications relating to the booking.
Payment Information
Payments on Real Drive may be processed by third-party payment providers.
Depending on the transaction, we may receive and retain information such as:
- Payment status;
- Transaction or payment reference;
- Amount paid;
- Refund information;
- Payment method type or limited payment information;
- Payout or withdrawal information where applicable.
We do not normally receive or store complete payment-card details where these are processed directly by our payment provider.
Payment providers process information in accordance with their own privacy policies and legal obligations.
Communications
We may process communications you send to Real Drive, including:
- Customer-support requests;
- Complaints;
- Dispute information;
- Account enquiries;
- Other correspondence.
Where Real Drive provides communication features between learners and instructors, we may also process communications necessary to operate, secure and support those features.
Reviews and Ratings
If you submit a review or rating, we may process and display information including:
- Your name or display name;
- Your review;
- Your rating;
- The instructor or service being reviewed;
- The date of the review.
You should not include unnecessary personal or sensitive information about another person in a review.
Technical and Usage Information
When you use Real Drive, we may automatically collect information such as:
- IP address;
- Device type;
- Browser type;
- Operating system;
- Application version;
- Device or session identifiers;
- Log information;
- Pages or features used;
- Security and authentication events;
- Approximate location information where permitted.
3. Information We Receive From Other Sources
We may receive personal information from third parties where necessary to provide or secure Real Drive services.
Depending on the services you use, these sources may include:
- Authentication providers where you choose third-party sign-in;
- Payment providers;
- Driving instructors and learners involved in your bookings;
- Verification providers;
- Service providers supporting the operation of Real Drive.
For example, where you use a third-party sign-in service, we may receive basic account information authorised by you through that provider.
4. How We Use Your Information
We may use personal information to:
- Create and manage accounts;
- Provide Real Drive services;
- Help learners find suitable instructors;
- Connect learners and instructors;
- Arrange and manage lessons;
- Manage lesson packs and intensive courses;
- Process payments, refunds, payouts and related transactions;
- Send booking confirmations, reminders and service notifications;
- Provide customer support;
- Verify instructors and relevant documentation;
- Maintain platform security;
- Detect and prevent fraud, misuse and unauthorised activity;
- Handle complaints and disputes;
- Operate reviews and ratings;
- Maintain records of lessons and learning progress;
- Improve our website, application and services;
- Administer our business;
- Send marketing communications where permitted;
- Meet legal, regulatory, accounting and tax obligations;
- Enforce our terms and policies;
- Protect Real Drive, our users and others.
5. Our Legal Bases for Processing
Under UK data protection law, we must have a lawful basis for processing personal information.
The basis we rely on depends on why we are using the information.
Contract
We may process information where it is necessary to provide a service you have requested or to perform our agreement with you.
This may include:
- Creating and managing your account;
- Arranging and managing lessons;
- Processing bookings;
- Processing payments and refunds;
- Providing customer support;
- Providing platform functionality.
Legal Obligation
We may process information where necessary to comply with legal or regulatory obligations, including applicable accounting, taxation, fraud-prevention or regulatory requirements.
Legitimate Interests
We may process information where necessary for our legitimate business interests and where those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms.
These interests may include:
- Keeping Real Drive secure;
- Preventing fraud and misuse;
- Protecting learners and instructors;
- Improving our services;
- Operating and administering our business;
- Resolving disputes;
- Enforcing our terms;
- Protecting our legal rights.
Consent
Where required by law, we may ask for your consent.
This may apply, for example, to certain marketing communications, optional technologies or permissions.
Where processing is based on consent, you can withdraw your consent at any time. Withdrawal does not affect processing that lawfully occurred before consent was withdrawn.
6. How We Share Information
We only share personal information where there is an appropriate reason to do so.
Learners and Instructors
Information necessary to arrange and provide a lesson may be shared between the learner and instructor.
This may include:
- Name;
- Contact information where necessary;
- Booking details;
- Pick-up or meeting location;
- Relevant lesson information.
Learners and instructors must not use information obtained through Real Drive for unrelated or unlawful purposes.
Service Providers
We may use service providers that help us operate Real Drive, including providers of:
- Payment processing;
- Cloud hosting and infrastructure;
- Authentication;
- Email and communications;
- Analytics;
- Customer support;
- Security and fraud prevention;
- Professional services.
These providers may process personal information on our behalf or as independent controllers depending on the service they provide.
Legal and Regulatory Disclosures
We may disclose information where reasonably necessary to:
- Comply with applicable law;
- Respond to lawful requests from courts, regulators or law-enforcement authorities;
- Establish, exercise or defend legal claims;
- Prevent fraud or criminal activity;
- Protect the rights or safety of Real Drive or others.
Business Changes
If Real Drive is involved in a merger, acquisition, restructuring, financing or sale of all or part of its business or assets, relevant personal information may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to applicable law.
We do not sell your personal information to third parties.
7. Public Instructor Profiles
Instructor profiles are intended to help learners evaluate and find instructors.
An instructor's public profile may include:
- Name;
- Profile photograph;
- Biography;
- ADI or PDI status;
- Experience;
- Vehicle type;
- Lesson prices;
- Service areas;
- Languages;
- Availability information;
- Reviews and ratings.
Instructors should only provide information that is appropriate for publication and are responsible for keeping their profile information accurate.
Some instructor information may also be visible to registered users or administrators where necessary to operate the platform.
8. Location Information
Real Drive may process location information where necessary to help users find instructors, arrange lessons or provide location-related functionality.
This may include:
- Service area;
- Town, city or postcode information;
- Pick-up or meeting location;
- Lesson location;
- Location information you provide;
- Approximate location derived from technical information where permitted.
Where device-location permission is required, you can control that permission through your device or browser settings.
9. Marketing Communications
We may send communications necessary to operate your account and provide Real Drive services. These may include booking confirmations, payment information, security notices and important service updates.
Marketing communications are treated separately.
Where required, we will obtain appropriate consent before sending electronic direct marketing.
You can unsubscribe from marketing communications using the unsubscribe method provided in the communication or by contacting us.
Unsubscribing from marketing does not prevent us from sending necessary account, booking, payment, security or service communications.
10. Cookies and Similar Technologies
Real Drive may use cookies and similar technologies to:
- Keep users signed in;
- Remember preferences;
- Maintain security;
- Provide essential website functionality;
- Understand how the platform is used;
- Improve performance;
- Measure services and features;
- Support analytics or marketing where permitted.
Where required by law, we will ask for consent before using non-essential cookies or similar technologies.
Further information may be provided through our cookie notice or cookie controls.
11. Data Security
We use appropriate technical and organisational measures designed to protect personal information against:
- Unauthorised access;
- Accidental loss;
- Destruction;
- Misuse;
- Alteration;
- Unauthorised disclosure.
Measures may include access controls, authentication, encryption where appropriate, monitoring and security procedures.
No internet-based service can guarantee absolute security.
You are responsible for protecting your account credentials and should contact us promptly if you believe your account has been compromised.
12. How Long We Keep Information
We keep personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected and to meet applicable legal, accounting, regulatory, security and dispute-resolution requirements.
Retention periods depend on factors including:
- The category of information;
- Why the information was collected;
- Whether your account remains active;
- Whether a transaction or booking remains relevant;
- Legal, tax and accounting requirements;
- Fraud and security requirements;
- Complaints or disputes;
- The need to establish or defend legal claims.
Some transaction and financial records may need to be retained after an account is closed where required by law.
When information is no longer required, we will delete, anonymise or securely dispose of it where appropriate.
13. Your Data Protection Rights
Depending on the circumstances, UK data protection law may give you rights including:
- Access — to request information about the personal data we hold about you and obtain a copy;
- Correction — to ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information;
- Erasure — to ask us to delete personal information in certain circumstances;
- Restriction — to ask us to restrict processing in certain circumstances;
- Objection — to object to certain processing;
- Data portability — to receive certain information in a portable format;
- Withdrawal of consent — where processing is based on consent.
These rights are subject to applicable legal conditions and exceptions.
Your Right to Object
Where we process your information on the basis of legitimate interests, you may have the right to object to that processing.
You also have the right to object at any time to the use of your personal information for direct marketing.
To exercise your rights, contact us using the details in Section 1.
We may need to verify your identity before responding to a request.
14. Deleting Your Account
You may request deletion of your Real Drive account.
Where account deletion is available within the application, you can use the relevant account settings. You may also use the account-deletion options provided on the Real Drive website or contact us.
Deleting your account does not necessarily mean that every record can be deleted immediately. We may retain information where necessary to comply with legal obligations, maintain financial or transaction records, prevent fraud, resolve disputes or establish or defend legal claims.
15. Children and Young People
Some learners using Real Drive may be under the age of 18.
Where our services are used by children or young people, we aim to handle their personal information fairly and appropriately, taking account of their age and the nature of the service.
We do not knowingly request personal information from children that is unnecessary for providing Real Drive services.
Where consent or another form of authorisation is legally required in relation to a young user, we will take appropriate steps to obtain it.
Parents, guardians and young users may contact us if they have questions about how personal information is handled.
16. Automated Decision-Making
Real Drive does not currently make decisions about users that produce legal or similarly significant effects solely through automated processing.
If we introduce such automated decision-making in the future, we will provide the information and safeguards required by applicable data protection law.
We may use automated systems to support ordinary platform functions such as security, fraud detection, search, matching or service administration where appropriate.
17. International Data Transfers
Some organisations that provide services to Real Drive may process personal information outside the United Kingdom.
Where personal information is transferred to another country, we will use a lawful transfer mechanism where required.
Depending on the circumstances, this may include:
- UK adequacy regulations;
- Appropriate contractual safeguards;
- The UK International Data Transfer Agreement;
- The UK Addendum to approved contractual clauses;
- Another transfer mechanism permitted under UK data protection law.
Where applicable, you may contact us for further information about the safeguards used for international transfers involving your personal information.
18. Third-Party Services and Links
Real Drive may integrate with or link to services operated by other organisations.
Those organisations may process information under their own privacy policies where they act independently from Real Drive.
We encourage you to review the privacy information provided by third-party services you choose to use.
19. Personal Data Breaches
If we become aware of a personal data breach, we will investigate and assess the incident and take appropriate action.
Where required by applicable law, we will notify the Information Commissioner's Office and affected individuals.
20. Complaints
If you have concerns about how Real Drive uses your personal information, please contact us first so that we can investigate your concerns.
You also have the right to complain to the UK data protection regulator:
Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)
You can find information about your rights and how to make a complaint on the ICO website.
21. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to Real Drive, our processing activities or applicable legal requirements.
When we make material changes, we may notify users through Real Drive, by email or through another appropriate method.
The effective date displayed at the top of this Privacy Policy indicates when the current version took effect.
Previous versions may be retained by Real Drive for administrative and compliance purposes.
22. Contact Us
For questions about this Privacy Policy, requests concerning your personal information or concerns about our data practices, contact:
Real Drive / Professional Service Support Limited
Email: pssltdrscab@gmail.com Address: 93 Austin Road, LU3 1TZ Luton
If we appoint a Data Protection Officer or other dedicated privacy contact where required, their contact information will be provided here.