Updated Privacy Policy

To comply with GDPR, we have updated our privacy policy, please see below.

The Old Fire Station Stoke Newington CIO (OFS) is committed to respecting your privacy. The purpose of this Privacy Policy is to explain how we will use any personal data we collect about you, the rights you have over any personal data we hold about you, and to tell you about the policies and procedures that we have in place to respect your privacy and keep your personal data secure.

This Privacy Policy applies to you if you visit The OFS, purchase a ticket for an event or service at The OFS, or use our services at The OFS, over the phone, online, through our mobile applications or otherwise by using our website or interacting with us on social media (our “Services”).

Who are we?

The OFS is a charity that manages the community building known as The Old Fire Station Stoke Newington.  The OFS manages the community spaces which are available to hire on sessional basis and long term basis for groups and activities that benefit the local residents.

The building itself is owned by the London Borough of Hackney.  The OFS leases the building from the London Borough of Hackney in order to provide the facilities for hire for the benefit of the local residents.  The OFS is a sole charitable organisation that is not affiliated with any other organisations.

Our contact details

If you have any comments or questions about this Privacy Policy or our data processing practices, please address them to us at buildingmanager@oldfirestationn16.org.uk or address the letter for the attention of our Data Protection Officer, who can be contacted at Old Fire Station, 61 Leswin Road, Stoke Newington, London, N16 7NX

The categories of personal data we collect and use

The categories of personal data we collect and use include:

  • name;
  • address;
  • email address;
  • telephone number;
  • information about the Services we provide to you (including for example, what we have provided to you, when and where and, if applicable, how much you paid);
  • information you provide to us with when you contact us by phone, email, post, or when you communicate with us via social media;
  • information you provide to us about your health when we are investigating an accident which may have happened at the OFS;
  • your vehicle registration number (when you access yard areas in a vehicle);
  • CCTV images when you visit;
  • information about electronic communications you receive from us, including whether that communication has been opened and if you have clicked on any links within that communication;
  • answers you provide when you respond to feedback and surveys;
  • any other personal data which you may disclose to us when you use our Services at any time.

Sources of personal data

We will receive your personal data when you provide them to us yourself or when you use or purchase one or more of our Services.

How we use your personal data

All personal data that we obtain about you will be used in accordance with current data protection law and this Privacy Policy. We will process your personal data as follows:

  • As necessary, to perform a contract with you, such as a contract to hire one of our sessional hire spaces including, where applicable, taking payment.
  • As necessary, to comply with a legal obligation, for the following purposes:
    • where you exercise your rights under data protection law and make requests; and
    • to comply with any legal obligation, any lawful request from government or law enforcement officials and as may be required to meet national security or law enforcement requirements or prevent illegal activity.
  • As necessary, for our legitimate interests in providing the Services and ensuring they operate safely, securely and in a suitable way which is tailored to your use and interests, for the following purposes:
    • to provide you with the Services;
    • to verify your identity for security purposes;
    • to help us to ensure our customers are genuine and to prevent fraud;
    • to ensure the security of our websites, mobile applications and other technology systems;
    • for the good governance of our business, including keeping financial records, to allow us to pay suppliers and to charge, invoice or refund customers;
    • by using CCTV, to prevent and detect crime and to keep people who visit and work at the OFS safe and secure;
    • to record and investigate health and safety and other incidents which have happened or may have happened at the OFS;
    • to provide you with information about our Services, to contact you about administrative matters, and to manage and respond to any queries or complaints you make or any correspondence you send us;
    • to help us to return lost property to its rightful owner;
    • and for monitoring and evaluation analysis and to analyse the use of our Services so that we can improve them.
  • Based on your consent, for the following purposes:
    • to send you marketing communications.

Sharing your personal data

We will not share your personal data with any other organisation outside the OFS.

We will only disclose your personal data to third parties in the following circumstances:

  • if we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, any lawful request from government or law enforcement officials and as may be required to meet national security or law enforcement requirements or prevent illegal activity;
  • in order to enforce or apply Our Terms of Use or any other agreement or to respond to any claims, to protect our rights or the rights of a third party, to protect the safety of any person or to prevent any illegal activity; or
  • to protect the rights, property, or safety of us, our customers or other persons. This may include exchanging personal data with other organisations for the purposes of fraud protection.

Save as expressly detailed above in this section, we will never share, sell or rent any of your personal data to any third party.

Storage and sharing of your personal data

We store data on our own servers in our office and those of our web service providers such as Google Drive or cloud. To the best of our knowledge this data is not shared outside of the United Kingdom.

How long do we keep your personal data?

We retain personal data for 6 years, unless in the case of employee’s, tenants/licence to occupy or hirers who continue to work at or rent space exceeding 6 years, or until requested to remove that data if none of these conditions are valid.

We will always retain your personal data in accordance with current data protection law and never retain your personal data for longer than is necessary.

Your rights

You may contact our Data Protection Officer by email at buildingmanager@oldfirestationn16.org.uk at any time, to:

  • request that we provide you with a copy of the personal data which we hold about you;
  • request that we update any of your personal data which are inaccurate or incomplete;
  • request that we delete any of your personal data which we are holding;
  • request that we restrict the way that we process your personal data;
  • request that we provide your personal data to you or a third-party provider of services in a structured, commonly-used and machine-readable format;

Your request must include your name, email address and postal address and we may request proof of your identity. Please allow at least seven working days for us to process your request.

Withdrawing your consent

Where we are processing your personal data based on your consent, you may change your mind and withdraw your consent at any time.

You can also withdraw your consent that you may have previously provided to us by contacting us at buildingmanager@oldfirestationn16.org.uk

Right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority

You may also make a complaint to a supervisory authority for data protection matters. In the UK, this would be the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (https://ico.org.uk/).

How do we protect your personal data?

We keep your personal data secure by implementing policies, procedures and access controls so that only authorised members of our staff or authorised third parties can access your personal data. We protect our information technology systems with firewalls and anti-virus and anti-malware software and other information security technology solutions.

We cannot guarantee the security of your personal data when you transmit it to us. For example, if you email us your personal data, you should be aware that email is not a secure transmission method. As such, you acknowledge and accept that we cannot guarantee the security of your personal data transmitted to us and that any such transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your personal data, we will use strict procedures and security features to prevent unauthorised access.

Links to other websites and mobile applications

We sometimes provide you with links to other websites or mobile applications, such as Instagram and Twitter.  These websites and mobile applications are not under our control. We are only responsible for the privacy practices and security of our Services. We are not responsible for the privacy policies, content or security of any linked websites or mobile applications. We recommend that you check the privacy and security policies of each and every website and mobile application that you visit.

Cookies and other tracking technologies

Cookies are small text files that can be used by web sites to make a user’s experience of the web site more efficient. We are legally allowed to store cookies on your machine if they are essential to the operation of our site but we need your permission if we use them for any other purposes. The OFS does use some non-essential cookies on our website. We rely on them not to track or identify individual users but to gain knowledge about how our site is used so that we can continually improve our users’ experience and to improve the ways in which we provide our services.

We currently use several WordPress plugins on our website, which are as follows:

We use a plugin called Statcounter that counts the number of visitors and provides us with information about how they move around and use our site – for example the average number of pages they view, how long they stay on those pages and how long they typically stay on the site.

We also use an anti-spam plugin called Askimet on our enquiry form on our website, which prevents spam messages from reaching our mailbox and from adversely affecting our blog.

Changes to our Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to change our Privacy Policy from time to time. Any such changes will be posted on this page so that we can keep you informed about how we process your personal data. We recommend that you consult this page frequently so that you are aware of our latest Privacy Policy and can update your preferences if necessary. Your continued use of our Services shall constitute your acceptance of any revised Privacy Policy.

This Privacy Policy was last updated on 22nd August 2024