Privacy policy

Draft, pre-launch. This page is a working draft for a site that has not launched. The operator's address for legal notices has not been confirmed yet, and this text has not been reviewed by an solicitor. Do not rely on it until this notice is removed.

This policy explains what personal data Spark Up collects through spark-up.co (the Site), what we do with it, who we share it with, and your rights. Spark Up (we, us, our) is operated by MCLACHLAN, RICHARD ANDREW (sole trader). For the purposes of UK data protection law we are the controller of the personal data described here.

The short version. You tell us about the EV charger job you need doing so that installers near you can quote. We pass your request to a small number of matched installers. We do not sell your personal data, we do not use it for advertising, and we do not run advertising trackers on the Site.

1. Personal data we collect

Data you give us

• Quote requests. Your postcode, what you need (for example a home charger or a repair), the type of property, whether you own or rent it, where you park, the rough distance from your fuse box to the parking spot, the age of the fuse box, any solar panels or battery, your charger preference, your car's make and model if you give them, photos you upload, your timescale and any notes you add.
• Contact details. Your name, email address and mobile number, and, if you choose to give it, the address where the charger will go.
• Messages. What you write to an installer in the on-site chat or through the message form on an installer's page, including photos you attach.
• Account details. Your name, email address and a password (stored only as a one-way hash). If you sign in with Google, Google gives us your name, email address and profile picture address.
• Business information. If you list or claim a business: its name, address or the area it covers, phone, email, website, services, prices and the other details you enter, and your connection to the business.
• Correspondence. Anything you send us through the contact form or by email.

Data collected automatically

• Technical data. Your IP address, browser and device type, the pages you request and when. Our servers keep this in short-lived logs for security and to fix problems.
• Cookies. We use only the cookies the Site needs to work (keeping you signed in, protecting forms). These are strictly necessary, so they do not need your consent. See the cookie notice.
• Location. If you tap "Use my current location" in the search, your browser asks your permission and sends us your position for that one search. We do not store it. Otherwise we work from the town or postcode you type.
• Photo metadata. We remove embedded location (GPS) data from photos you upload before they are stored or shown to anyone.

Data from other sources

• Business listings. Listings are compiled from publicly available sources, including a business's own website and its public Google Maps listing (name, address or area covered, phone, website, hours, Google rating and review count). Ratings shown as Google ratings are Google's. Where a listing names a sole trader, that is personal data, and the section on listings below applies.

We do not ask for, and you should not send us, bank details, National Insurance numbers or health information. A photo of your driveway may show your car's number plate or your house number: crop or cover them if you prefer.

2. How we use personal data, and our lawful bases

What we do	Lawful basis
Send your quote request to matched installers, show you their quotes, run the on-site chat and email you when a quote or a message arrives	Contract: it is the service you asked for
Confirm you control your email address before a request is sent	Contract, and our legitimate interest in keeping fake requests away from installers
Create and secure accounts, and let a business manage its listing	Contract
Send one reminder if you leave the quote form part-way through	Legitimate interest in helping you finish a request you started; one email only, and you can tell us not to
Publish business listings compiled from public sources	Legitimate interest in a useful directory of installers; a business can correct or remove its listing
Prevent spam, fraud and abuse, and keep the Site secure	Legitimate interest
Understand, in aggregate, how the Site is used	Legitimate interest
Answer questions, handle complaints, keep records the law requires and enforce our terms	Legal obligation and legitimate interest

We do not make decisions about you by automated means that have legal or similarly significant effects. Matching a request to installers uses the request itself: distance, the type of job and what each business says it does.

3. Who we share personal data with

• Installers you are matched with. They see the request: the first half of your postcode (for example LS6), your answers and your photos. Your email address, phone number and the address of the property are not shown to an installer until you choose that installer. Until then, contact details typed into the chat are blocked.
• An installer you message directly. If you use the message form on an installer's page, that installer receives your name, email address, phone number (if given) and message so it can reply.
• Service providers. Companies that host the Site, deliver our email, protect the Site from spam and attacks, and provide map images. They act on our instructions and may use your data only to provide their service to us. Map images are loaded from OpenStreetMap, which receives your IP address when a map is displayed.
• Google, if you choose Google sign-in. Google learns that you signed in to the Site.
• Legal and safety. When the law requires it, or to protect the rights, property or safety of our users, the public or us.
• Business transfer. If the Site is sold or merged, personal data transfers to the new operator, which must honour this policy.

Each installer is an independent business and becomes a separate controller of the data it receives from you. We require installers to use request information only to quote and carry out your job, but we do not control them.

4. No selling, no advertising

We do not sell personal data and we do not use it, or let anyone else use it, for advertising. Passing your request to the installers you asked us to find is a disclosure you direct.

5. Your rights

Under UK data protection law you have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you and get a copy.
• Rectification: have data that is wrong corrected.
• Erasure: have your data deleted, where there is no good reason for us to keep it.
• Restriction: ask us to limit how we use your data while a concern is looked into.
• Portability: receive data you gave us in a commonly used, machine-readable format.
• Object to processing we base on legitimate interests, including the draft reminder email.

To use a right, email [email protected] from the address on your account or your request, or use the contact form. We confirm the request comes from you by checking you control that email address, and may ask for a little more if the request is unusual. We answer within one month, free of charge. If a request is complex we may extend that by up to two further months and will tell you why.

If you are unhappy with how we handle your data, please tell us first. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.

6. Email

Most email we send is about a service you asked for: confirmation links, a quote arriving, a new chat message, a change to your request or your listing. These do not carry marketing.

We do not send marketing email to people who request quotes. If we email a listed business about its listing (for example, inviting it to claim it), the email says who it is from and how to ask us not to write again, and we honour that.

7. Your phone number

We collect your mobile number so the installer you choose can contact you about the job. We confirm your email address by link; we do not independently verify your phone number. Request updates are sent by email and shown in your account.

Until you choose an installer, installers cannot see your number. The chosen installer may call or text you about your job. We do not give your number to anyone for marketing.

8. How long we keep personal data

• Unfinished forms: once your contact details are complete, we save those details and your answers so you can return. If you leave without sending, we may email one reminder after 60 minutes of inactivity. Drafts are deleted after 30 days. Photos that never became part of a request are removed after 48 hours.
• Quote requests, quotes, chat and photos: while the request is open and for up to 24 months afterwards, so you and the installer have a record, then deleted or anonymised.
• Accounts: until you ask us to delete the account.
• Messages sent through an installer's page and the contact form: up to 24 months.
• Server and security logs: up to 90 days, longer only where needed to investigate abuse.

We may keep a minimal record for longer where the law requires it or to resolve a dispute. Data an installer received from you before you ask us to delete it stays with that installer: ask the installer directly.

9. Deleting your account and exporting your data

You can ask us at any time to delete your account and the requests, messages and photos linked to it, or to send you an export of them. Email [email protected] from the address on the account. We confirm the request, act on it within one month, and tell you when it is done. If you own a business listing, deleting your account releases the listing; ask us if you also want the listing removed.

10. Security

The Site is served over an encrypted connection, passwords are stored as one-way hashes, photos are kept in private storage and shown only to you and the installers on your request, and access to personal data is limited to the people who run the Site. No system is perfectly secure. If a breach is likely to put your rights at risk, we will tell you and report it to the ICO as the law requires.

11. Children

The Site is for adults arranging work on a property. It is not directed at children and we do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 18. If you believe a child has given us information, contact us and we will delete it.

12. Where personal data is processed

The Site serves people and businesses in the United Kingdom. Our operator and some of our service providers are based outside the UK, including in Australia and the United States, so your data may be processed there. Where data leaves the UK we rely on the safeguards UK law provides for such transfers, such as UK adequacy regulations or the International Data Transfer Agreement, and we protect it as this policy describes wherever it is processed.

13. If your business is listed

Listings are built from public business information. If you own a listed business you can take control of the listing to correct it, or ask us to correct or remove it by emailing [email protected]. We act on removal requests from the business owner. A sole trader whose name appears in a listing has the rights in section 5.

14. Changes to this policy

We will post any change here and update the date at the top. If a change materially affects how we use data we already hold, we will tell you by email or by a notice on the Site before it takes effect.

15. Contact us

Privacy questions and requests: [email protected]. See also our terms of use, cookie notice and accessibility statement.