What we hold, why we hold it, and the two things a driving school deals with that most businesses do not.
Clearway Driving School Ltd is the data controller. Registered in England and Wales, company number 08012447, at Office 4, Winwick Street, Warrington, WA2 7TT. For anything about your data, email bookings@clearwaydriving.co.uk or ring 01925 640 118.
A large share of our learners are 17, which means we routinely hold personal data about children and we treat it accordingly.
Where a parent or guardian books on a learner’s behalf, we hold that adult’s contact details too, and we will discuss scheduling and payment with them. What we will not do is share the content of lessons — how somebody is finding it, what they are struggling with — without the learner’s agreement, unless there is a safeguarding reason.
That is a deliberate line. A seventeen-year-old is entitled to learn to drive without every wobble being reported home, and they tend to learn faster when that is understood.
Where a tuition car is fitted with a camera, it is there for two reasons: evidence in the event of an incident, and occasionally to review a manoeuvre with a learner afterwards.
Footage is overwritten on a loop, normally within a fortnight, and is only retained beyond that where there has been an incident or a complaint. It is not used for marketing, never posted online, and never shared with a parent or anybody else without the learner’s consent unless the law requires it.
If you would rather not be recorded, say so before the lesson. We will tell you honestly whether that is possible in the car you are booked into.
| What for | Lawful basis |
|---|---|
| Arranging and delivering lessons | Performance of our contract with you |
| Checking you hold a valid provisional licence | Compliance with a legal obligation |
| Keeping progress records between lessons | Our legitimate interests in teaching you properly |
| Adjusting lessons for a medical or additional need | Your explicit consent |
| In-car camera footage after an incident | Our legitimate interests in establishing what happened |
| Invoices and accounting | Compliance with a legal obligation |
| Reminders and offers by text or email | Your consent, withdrawable at any time |
| Record | Kept for | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Enquiries that never became lessons | 12 months | People come back, often a year later |
| Progress records | 2 years after your last lesson | So a returning learner is not starting from scratch |
| Licence check record | 2 years | Evidence that we checked before teaching you |
| Camera footage, no incident | Around 14 days | Overwritten on a loop |
| Camera footage after an incident | Until the matter is closed, then 6 years | The limitation period for claims |
| Invoices and accounting records | 6 years | HMRC requires tax records for six years |
Under UK GDPR you can ask us for a copy of your data, to correct it, to delete it where we have no legal reason to keep it, to restrict what we do with it, to send it to another provider, or to stop marketing at any time. Email us and we will respond within one month at no charge.
If you are under 18 these rights are yours, not your parents’. You can exercise them yourself.
Tell us first — most things are sorted the same day. If you are not satisfied you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk.