Parking privacy notice

We ask that you read this privacy notice carefully as it contains important information on who we are, how and why we collect, store, use and share personal information, your rights in relation to your personal information and on how to contact us and supervisory authorities in the event you have a complaint.

Who we are

Dorset Council Parking Service collects, uses and is responsible for certain personal information about you. When we do so we are regulated under the General Data Protection Regulation which applies across the European Union (including in the United Kingdom) and we are responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal information for the purposes of those laws.

The personal information we collect

Information collected by us

In order to provide parking services it is necessary that we collect and hold personal information about you which may include but is not limited to:

• basic details of your vehicle such as vehicle registration number, registered keeper enquiries, vehicle make and model, location of vehicle, parking contravention details
• basic details about you such as name, date of birth, telephone number, e-mail address, address
• contact we have had with you such as correspondence, emails and formal parking enforcement notices

Information collected from other sources

We also obtain personal information from other sources as follows:

• DVLA
• cashless parking provider

How we use your personal information

We use your personal information, in the manners specified below, in order to provide you with services and for the following purposes:

• to manage and enforce permit schemes in car parks and on roads throughout Dorset
• to manage and enforce off street parking restrictions
• the provision of parking services including the provision, via a contract with a third party provider, of a cashless parking service
• for the purpose of enforcing penalty charge notices
• to respond to any queries and challenges you may raise when we seek payment from you

Who we share your personal information with

In order to exercise the above activities in an efficient way, we routinely share your personal information with partner organisations and other agencies including but not limited to:

• Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)
• Traffic Enforcement Centre
• The Traffic Penalty Tribunal Service
• central government and other local authorities
• civil enforcement agencies
• our parking software provider
• cashless parking providers

This data sharing enables us to ensure the best service is delivered. We do not anticipate that our data-transferring arrangements will involve a transfer outside of the European Economic Area (EEA).

On occasion we may be required to share personal information with law enforcement or other authorities if required by applicable law. Where this occurs we will attempt to ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place.

We will not share your personal information with any other third party.

How long your personal information will be kept

Records will be retained for a period of six years, or such other period as we are required to retain such records under statute.

Reasons for collecting and using your personal information

As the provision of parking services is a function that we are expected to provide by virtue of our local authority status, the lawful basis for processing will be public task. We may from time to time provide parking services that are discretionary or not required from us as a local authority, in these instances the basis of processing will be performance of a contract.

Issuing and enforcement of penalty charge notices is conducted in accordance with the Traffic Management Act 2004 (as amended).

Your rights

Under the General Data Protection Regulation you have a number of important rights that may be exercised free of charge. In summary, those include rights to:

• fair processing of information and transparency over how we use your use personal information
• access to your personal information and to certain other supplementary information that this privacy notice is already designed to address
• require us to correct any mistakes in your information which we hold 
• require the erasure of personal information concerning you in certain situations
• receive the personal information concerning you which you have provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and have the right to transmit those data to a third party in certain situations
• object at any time to processing of personal information concerning you for direct marketing
• object in certain other situations to our continued processing of your personal information
• otherwise restrict our processing of your personal information in certain circumstances

For further information on each of those rights you can visit the Information Commissioner's Office.You can also exercise any of those rights or find out more at Data protection. Alternatively you can contact our Data Protection Officer.

In order that we can comply with such a request as soon as possible, it would be useful if you could provide the following information within your initial request:

• enough information to identify you e.g. reference, account number, user name, registration details
• proof of your identity and address (e.g. a copy of your driving licence or passport and a recent utility or credit card bill)
• the information to which your request relates

Keeping your personal information secure

We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost, or used or accessed in an unauthorised way. We limit access to your personal information to those who have a genuine business need to know it. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so.

How to complain

We hope that our Data Protection Officer can resolve any query or concern you raise about our use of your information.

The General Data Protection Regulation also gives you right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. The supervisory authority in the UK is the Information Commissionertelephone: 0303 123 1113.

Changes to this privacy notice

This privacy notice was published on 1 April 2019. When amendments are made to this page we will update this section. We recommend that you review this section from time to time so that you are aware of the latest version of this notice.

How to contact us

Please contact our Data Protection Officer if you have any questions about this privacy notice or the information we hold about you.

Do you need extra help?

If you would like this notice in another format (for example: audio, large print, braille) please contact us