Privacy & Cookie Policy

Full Privacy & Cookie Policy

1. Who We Are

QualDrive Limited (“QualDrive®”, “we”, “us” or “our”) provides driving tuition, learner support, Driving Instructor development and related services.

For personal information where QualDrive Limited determines how and why it is used, QualDrive Limited is the data controller.

QualDrive Limited
Greenlands Business Centre
Studley Road
Redditch
Worcestershire
B98 7HD

Company Number: 14973412
Email: contact@qualdrive.co.uk
Telephone: 01527 337 855

Where tuition is provided by a self-employed Associate Instructor, that instructor may also have their own data-protection responsibilities for information they process in connection with the professional services they provide.

2. Personal Information We May Collect

Depending on how you interact with QualDrive, we may collect identity and contact information, such as your name, telephone number, email address, address or general location.

We may collect driving and tuition information, such as driving licence information, transmission preference, previous driving experience, lesson history, progress, training needs and driving-test information.

We may collect booking and account information, including scheduled and completed lessons, payments and available tuition.

We may retain relevant communications, including enquiries, emails, messages and information provided during telephone conversations.

We may process payment information, including records of payments, refunds and transactions. Complete card or banking details may be processed directly by the relevant payment provider rather than being held by QualDrive.

We may collect technical information when you use our website, subject to your cookie choices and applicable law.

We may also process photographs, videos, reviews or testimonials where you choose to provide these or consent to their use.

Other information that you choose to provide may also be processed where it is relevant to your enquiry, tuition or relationship with QualDrive.

We aim to collect only information that is reasonably necessary for the relevant purpose.

3. How We Collect Your Information

We may collect personal information when you complete an enquiry or contact form, contact us by telephone, email or messaging, submit an online enquiry, create or use a learner account, book or pay for tuition, communicate with QualDrive or your instructor, attend driving lessons or training, provide feedback, a review or testimonial, or otherwise interact with QualDrive.

Information submitted through our website may be stored within our website systems as well as being provided to QualDrive so that we can respond to and manage your enquiry.

We may also receive relevant information from an instructor, parent or guardian, service provider, regulatory body or another person or organisation where there is an appropriate reason and lawful basis for doing so.

4. Telephone Enquiries & AI-Assisted Technology

We may use automated or AI-assisted technology to help answer and manage incoming telephone enquiries.

Where this technology is used, information you provide during the conversation may be transcribed, summarised or otherwise processed so that QualDrive can understand and respond to your enquiry.

This may include information such as your name, contact details, general location, tuition requirements and other information you choose to provide.

Information generated from a telephone enquiry may be provided to QualDrive and retained where reasonably necessary for customer support, enquiry management and appropriate business records.

We use trusted third-party communications providers to support these services and take appropriate steps to ensure personal information is handled in accordance with applicable data-protection requirements.

5. Learner Management & Online Systems

We use third-party systems to help administer enquiries, learner accounts, lessons, communications, payments, tuition records and learner progress.

If you decide to proceed with an enquiry or tuition, you may be asked to provide additional information through one of these systems.

Information may be accessible to QualDrive and, where necessary, the instructor allocated to provide your tuition.

Access to personal information will be limited where appropriate to information reasonably required to manage or provide the relevant service.

6. How We Use Your Information

We may use your personal information to respond to and manage enquiries, assess tuition requirements and instructor availability, arrange and administer driving lessons or training, allocate learners to suitable instructors, manage learner accounts, bookings and payments, maintain appropriate tuition, progress and training records, communicate with you and provide customer support.

We may also use your information to manage refunds, cancellations and complaints, maintain safety, safeguarding and professional standards, administer matters relating to driving tests where relevant to the tuition we provide, prevent misuse or fraud, meet legal, regulatory, insurance, accounting or professional obligations, protect our legal rights and those of others, and improve and administer our services and business operations.

Where permitted by law, we may also use your information to send relevant marketing communications.

We will not use your personal information for an incompatible purpose without an appropriate lawful basis.

7. Our Lawful Bases

UK data-protection law requires us to have an appropriate lawful basis for processing personal information.

Contract may apply where processing is necessary to provide tuition or another service you have requested, or to take steps at your request before entering into an agreement.

Legitimate interests may apply where processing is reasonably necessary to operate, administer, improve or protect our business and services, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and interests.

Legal obligation may apply where information needs to be processed to comply with a legal or regulatory requirement.

Consent may apply where we ask for your permission for a particular use of your information.

Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal does not affect processing that was lawful before consent was withdrawn.

8. Health & Other Sensitive Information

You may sometimes need to tell us or your instructor about a medical condition, disability, medication or other health-related matter where it is relevant to your legal entitlement or ability to drive safely, or where reasonable adjustments may be required for your tuition.

Please only provide health or other sensitive information that is relevant and reasonably necessary for your driving tuition, safety or support.

Health information is treated as special category personal data under UK data-protection law and will only be processed where there is an appropriate lawful basis and an applicable condition permitting its use.

Access to this information will be limited where appropriate to those who reasonably need it for the relevant purpose, such as your instructor.

Where you are required to notify the DVLA or another relevant authority about a medical condition, this remains your responsibility unless the law requires otherwise.

We will not use health information for marketing purposes.

9. Learners Under 18

QualDrive provides driving tuition to learners of different ages. While most learner drivers become legally entitled to drive a car from the age of 17, some learners may be legally entitled to begin driving tuition earlier, including eligible disabled learners.

Where we process personal information relating to someone under 18, we take particular care to ensure that their information is handled fairly, appropriately and transparently.

Where appropriate and lawful, relevant information may be communicated with a parent, guardian or other person responsible for arranging or paying for tuition, particularly where they are involved in managing lessons, payments or other practical arrangements.

Information may also be shared where reasonably necessary in connection with a safeguarding, welfare or safety concern, subject to applicable law.

We will not automatically disclose a learner’s personal information to another person simply because they are the learner’s parent, guardian or the person paying for their tuition. Any disclosure will be considered according to the individual circumstances, the learner’s rights and applicable law.

10. Associate Instructors

QualDrive works with self-employed Associate Instructors who provide driving tuition under the QualDrive brand.

Where you are allocated to an Associate Instructor, relevant personal information may be shared with or made available to that instructor where necessary to contact you, arrange lessons, provide tuition, maintain appropriate records and administer the services they provide.

Associate Instructors are expected to handle learner information appropriately and in accordance with applicable data-protection requirements.

Depending on the circumstances and processing involved, an Associate Instructor may have their own responsibilities as a data controller for information they process in connection with the services they provide.

11. Who We May Share Information With

We do not sell your personal information.

Where necessary and lawful, personal information may be shared with your allocated driving instructor and with trusted third parties that help us provide and administer our services.

These may include website, hosting and IT providers, communications and email providers, learner-management and administration providers, payment-processing providers, professional advisers, accountants and insurers.

Information may also be shared with government or regulatory bodies, law-enforcement authorities, safeguarding organisations or emergency services where there is an appropriate legal, regulatory, safeguarding or safety reason for doing so.

We may also use other service providers where reasonably necessary to support the operation of QualDrive and the services we provide.

We only share information where there is an appropriate reason for doing so and seek to limit the information shared to what is reasonably necessary for the relevant purpose.

12. Payments

Payments may be processed through third-party payment services.

Payment providers may process information necessary to authorise, administer and record a payment or refund.

QualDrive does not need to receive or retain complete payment-card details where those details are processed securely by the relevant payment provider.

Where payment is made directly to a self-employed Associate Instructor, that instructor may process relevant payment and transaction information in connection with the tuition they provide.

13. Photographs, Videos, Reviews & Social Media

We may invite learners to provide photographs, videos, testimonials or reviews, including following a successful driving test.

Participation is entirely voluntary and is not a condition of receiving tuition.

We will obtain appropriate consent before using identifiable learner photographs, videos or other personal information for promotional or social-media purposes where consent is required.

Consent for promotional use is separate from your agreement to receive tuition and may be withdrawn for future use.

Withdrawal cannot always remove material that has already been lawfully published or subsequently shared independently by others, but we will take appropriate steps regarding material under our control.

14. Marketing

We may contact you about QualDrive services where permitted by applicable law.

Where consent is required for electronic marketing, we will obtain it before sending those communications.

You can ask us to stop sending direct marketing communications at any time.

You have the right to object at any time to the use of your personal information for direct marketing.

You can exercise this right using any unsubscribe facility provided or by contacting contact@qualdrive.co.uk.

15. Cookies & Website Technologies

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to help it operate securely and effectively and, where you have provided consent, to help us understand how visitors use our website.

Functional cookies are necessary for the website to operate properly and securely and may remember certain choices, including your cookie preferences.

Statistics cookies help us understand how visitors use our website, such as which pages are visited and how visitors interact with the site. This helps us monitor performance and improve our website and services.

Marketing cookies may be used where applicable to measure or support marketing activity.

Cookies that are not strictly necessary will only be used where the appropriate consent has been provided.

You can accept, deny or manage non-essential cookies using the cookie controls available on our website and can change your preferences at any time.

16. International Data Transfers

Some service providers we use may process or store personal information outside the United Kingdom.

Where personal information is transferred internationally, we take appropriate steps to ensure that the transfer is made in accordance with applicable UK data-protection law.

Where required, this may include relying on applicable adequacy regulations or approved contractual safeguards.

You can contact us if you would like further information about safeguards applicable to international transfers involving your personal information.

17. Keeping Your Information Secure

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration or disclosure.

Access to personal information is restricted where appropriate to people and service providers who reasonably require it for their role or the services they provide.

No electronic system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, but we take appropriate steps to protect the information for which we are responsible.

18. How Long We Keep Information

We keep personal information only for as long as it is reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, including where required to meet legal, accounting, regulatory, insurance or dispute-resolution requirements.

Different types of information may therefore be retained for different periods.

When deciding how long information should be retained, we consider its nature, purpose, sensitivity, applicable legal requirements and whether it remains reasonably necessary.

We regularly review the personal information we hold. Where information is no longer required, we will take appropriate steps to delete, anonymise or securely dispose of it.

19. Your Data-Protection Rights

Depending on the circumstances, UK data-protection law may give you the right to access personal information we hold about you and ask us to correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete.

You may also have the right to ask us to erase personal information, restrict the way information is used or object to certain processing in particular circumstances.

Where applicable, you may have the right to receive certain personal information in a portable format and to withdraw consent where our processing relies on your consent.

These rights are not absolute and may depend on the circumstances and lawful basis involved.

To exercise any of your data-protection rights, please contact contact@qualdrive.co.uk.

We may need to verify your identity before responding to a request.

20. Automated & AI-Assisted Processing

We may use automated or AI-assisted technology to support communications, administration and enquiry handling.

We do not currently use solely automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects for learners in relation to the provision of driving tuition.

If this changes, we will provide appropriate information and safeguards as required by applicable law.

21. Complaints About Your Personal Information

If you have concerns about how QualDrive has handled your personal information, please contact us so that we have an opportunity to investigate and respond.

Email: contact@qualdrive.co.uk
Telephone: 01527 337 855

You also have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s independent data-protection regulator.

Contacting QualDrive first does not affect your right to complain to the ICO.

22. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy & Cookie Policy from time to time to reflect changes to our services, systems, legal requirements or data-protection practices.

The current version will be published on the QualDrive website and the last updated date shown at the top of this page will be updated accordingly.

Where a significant change materially affects how we use personal information, we will take reasonable steps to bring the change to the attention of affected individuals where appropriate.

23. Contact Us

For questions about this Privacy & Cookie Policy or how QualDrive handles your personal information, please contact: