Privacy policy

This notice explains what personal information Midlands Aerial Surveys collects, why it is collected, how long it is kept and what rights you have over it. It covers this website, enquiries made through it, and the aerial imagery captured during survey and inspection work.

Midlands Aerial Surveys is a sole trader business. The data controller is James Richardson, trading as Midlands Aerial Surveys. You can contact us about anything in this notice at info@midlandsaerialsurveys.co.uk or on 07762957953.

Information we collect from you

When you fill in a form on this website, or email or telephone us, we collect:

• Your name
• Your email address and telephone number
• The address, postcode or location of the site you are asking about
• What you have told us about the work you need
• Whether you have asked to receive marketing from us

We do not ask for, and do not want, any special category information — health, ethnicity, religion, political opinion or anything similar. Please do not include it in an enquiry.

We do not take payment through this website, so no card or bank details are collected here.

Why we use it, and our lawful basis

To answer your enquiry and quote for work

We use your contact details and what you have told us about the site to reply, to ask sensible follow-up questions, and to prepare a written quotation. The lawful basis is legitimate interests — you have approached us about work, and answering you is the obvious and expected result. If we go on to work for you, the basis becomes performance of a contract.

To carry out and deliver the work

Planning a flight, preparing a risk assessment, attending your site and delivering the files all involve using your details and your site's location. The lawful basis is performance of a contract.

To meet legal and insurance obligations

Records relating to flights, risk assessments, invoices and tax are kept because the law, our insurer or the Civil Aviation Authority requires it. The lawful basis is legal obligation, and legitimate interests where it relates to defending a claim.

To send you marketing, if you have asked for it

We only send marketing to people who have ticked the box asking for it, and every message has an unsubscribe link that works. The lawful basis is consent. You can withdraw it at any time and we will stop.

Please note that under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, sole traders and partnerships count as individuals rather than businesses. If that is you, we will not add you to a marketing list without your express consent, whatever the enquiry was about.

Aerial imagery, and people who did not ask to be filmed

This section matters more here than on most websites, because a drone flight captures whatever is beneath it.

What gets captured

During a survey or inspection the aircraft records still images and video of the site it has been instructed to record. It will incidentally capture some of what surrounds that site — neighbouring roofs and gardens, parked vehicles, and occasionally people going about their business. Where a person or a vehicle registration is identifiable, that imagery is personal information and we treat it as such.

How we limit it

• Flights are planned to keep the aircraft over or immediately adjacent to the site we have been instructed to record.
• The camera is not left running for the whole flight. It records when it is pointed at what we have been asked to capture.
• We fly at the height and standoff the job actually needs, rather than lower or closer.
• Where a flight has to cross or overlook a neighbouring property, we raise it with the client at the quotation stage.
• We follow the Civil Aviation Authority's rules on flying near people and property, and we hold the authorisations those rules require.

What we do with it afterwards

• Imagery is reviewed before anything is delivered, published or used in marketing.
• Faces, other people's vehicle registrations and anything else identifiable that is not part of the job are blurred before an image is published or shared beyond the client.
• Raw footage is deleted once the deliverable has been accepted, unless the client's contract requires us to hold it for longer.
• We do not sell imagery to third parties and we do not use a client's site imagery in marketing without their agreement.

If you think you have been filmed

If you believe you appear in imagery captured by one of our flights, contact us at info@midlandsaerialsurveys.co.uk with a rough date and location. We will check, tell you what we hold, and delete or blur anything of you that we are not required to keep. You do not have to give a reason.

Who else sees your information

We keep the business deliberately small, and your information stays with it wherever possible. Flights are flown, imagery processed and files delivered by the same person. We do not use an outside processing bureau.

Each of these acts on our instructions under a written agreement and cannot use your information for its own purposes. Where a supplier stores data outside the UK, we rely on the UK's adequacy decisions or on the approved contractual safeguards.

We will also share information where we are legally required to — with the Civil Aviation Authority, the police, our insurer, or a court.

How long we keep it

• Enquiries that do not become work: 24 months from our last contact with you
• Client project files and correspondence: 6 years from the end of the work
• Invoices and tax records: 5 years after the relevant filing deadline
• Records of marketing consent: for as long as you are subscribed, plus 2 years
• Records of people who have opted out: kept indefinitely, so we do not contact you again by mistake
• Raw aerial footage: deleted once the deliverable has been accepted
• Survey deliverables: ordinarily 6 years, or as agreed in your contract

Your rights

You have the right to ask us for a copy of the information we hold about you, to have it corrected if it is wrong, to have it deleted, to object to how we are using it, to ask us to restrict its use, and to receive it in a portable format. Where we rely on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

Ask by emailing info@midlandsaerialsurveys.co.uk. We will respond within one month. There is no charge.

Cookies

This website sets cookies. What they are and how to control them is set out in our cookie policy.

Changes to this notice

We update this notice when the way we work changes. The date at the top of the page tells you when it was last revised. If a change materially affects how we use information we already hold about you, we will tell you directly.