Privacy policy

Hire Counter is run by [Company legal name] Ltd (company number [company number]), registered office [registered office address]. We are the controller of the personal information described in this policy.

If you have a question about your information, email hello@hirecounter.com. [ICO registration number — to add once registered.]

This policy covers hirecounter.com and the services we run through it: searching for and booking equipment (as a hirer), listing equipment for hire (as a hire firm), and getting in touch with us.

Hire firms you book with are separate businesses. When they receive your details to fulfil a hire, they use them under their own privacy notices.

We collect only what we need to run the marketplace:

• Supplier waitlist — your firm’s name, your name, email address, phone number (if you give it), main depot postcode and fleet size.
• Emails you send us — your message and contact details.
• Live chat — if you tap “Chat with us”, your messages, any name or email you give, and technical details such as your browser and approximate location (from your IP address). Chat is run by Crisp; nothing loads until you tap.
• Searches — the machine type, postcode or town and dates you search for. These travel in the page address so results can be shared; we don’t link them to you unless you go on to book.
• Bookings (from launch) — your name, email, phone number, company name, site address, the machine and dates, and messages about the hire.
• Check-out and return photos (from launch) — photos of the machine’s condition at handover and return, with the time they were taken.
• Payments (from launch) — card payments and deposit holds are handled by Stripe. We never see or store your full card number; we receive the card type, last four digits and payment status.
• Hire firms (from launch) — business details, depot locations, listings and payout details. Identity and bank checks for payouts are carried out by Stripe.
• Technical information — our hosting provider records server logs (IP address, browser type, pages requested and the time) to keep the site running and secure.

UK data protection law requires a lawful basis for each use. Ours are:

• To arrange, take payment for and manage your hire — because it’s necessary for our contract with you.
• To hold and release deposits and pay hire firms — contract, and our legal obligations to keep financial records.
• To talk to hire firms about joining, and to answer your emails and chats — our legitimate interest in running and growing the marketplace, or steps you’ve asked us to take before a contract.
• To use check-out and return photos to settle questions about damage — contract, and our legitimate interest in resolving disputes fairly.
• To keep the site secure and prevent fraud and misuse — our legitimate interests, and those of our users.
• To keep accounting and tax records — legal obligation.
• To send marketing — only with your consent, or to existing customers about similar services with an easy way to opt out. We don’t send marketing emails at the moment.

We don’t sell your personal information. We share it only where we need to:

• The hire firm you book with — your name, contact details, site address, dates and the booking’s photos, so they can fulfil the hire.
• The hirer, if you’re a hire firm — your business name, depot and contact details for that booking.
• Service providers who process information for us: Vercel (website hosting), Stripe (payments, deposit holds and payouts — Stripe is also a controller for its own legal checks), Crisp (live chat, hosted in the EU), [email provider] and [form-handling provider].
• Professional advisers, insurers, and the police, courts or regulators where the law requires it or to protect our rights.
• A buyer of our business, if it is sold, under the same protections.

Some of our providers process information outside the UK, including in the United States. When they do, the transfer is protected by UK adequacy regulations (such as the UK Extension to the EU–US Data Privacy Framework) or by the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or Addendum.

• Supplier waitlist details — until you join, or [24 months] after we last spoke if you don’t.
• Emails and chats with us — [2 years] after the conversation ends.
• Bookings, payments and invoices — 6 years after the end of the financial year they fall in, as tax and company law require.
• Check-out and return photos — for the hire and [12 months] after it closes, or longer if a claim is open.
• Server logs — for the short period our hosting provider keeps them.

You have the right to ask for a copy of your information, to have it corrected, deleted or restricted, to object to how we use it, to have it moved to another provider, and to withdraw consent where we rely on it. Some rights have limits — for example, we must keep financial records for set periods.

To use any of these rights, email hello@hirecounter.com. We’ll reply within one month.

If you’re unhappy with how we’ve handled your information, please tell us first. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.

We don’t use analytics or advertising cookies. Live chat stores a cookie only once you tap to start a chat. Our cookie policy explains what the site does and doesn’t store on your device.

Hire Counter is for people aged 18 and over. We don’t knowingly collect information about children.

We’ll update this page when our practices change and show the date of the last change at the top. If a change affects you significantly, we’ll tell you before it takes effect.