Privacy Policy

The Canal Museum Trust trades as London Canal Museum. Registered Charity No 277484.

Preface

We are a small organisation and we do not process data on a large scale. We collect process and retain personal data necessary for:

• Serving customers
• Management of volunteers and staff
• Responding to enquiries
• Obtaining goods and services from suppliers
• Historical record-keeping

We do not supply data in electronic format to any other body or organisation in any country.

We serve customers with an online event booking system provided by a third party, and we use an external contractor to manage payroll.

We collect data by email, from forms on our websites, from letters, and in person.

Data we collect about people

Customers

For purposes of administration and providing services to customers we collect personal data of:

• The organisers of group visits to the museum (including school and youth group leaders)
• The organisers of private functions including small meetings
• People who book places at bookable events and trips such as boat trips, museum special events, guided walks or other event for which places are limited and that can be booked in advance.
• People who purchase digital images from us
• People who moor boats at our facilities
• People who buy items from the museum shop other than in person

We also collect contact information from people who make enquiries about using any of our services as listed above.

We retain this data for a reasonable time in all the circumstances, until there is no likelihood of further communication for which we would need to refer to previous correspondence or data. In the case of customers for services on which VAT is charged, information is retained for up to eight years for legal reasons.

Volunteers

The museum is largely staffed by volunteers whose personal data we collect:

• When considering a volunteer for engagement
• When we engage a volunteer

This information is held to facilitate administration of the museum. This includes next-of-kin data in case of death or serious injury.

After a volunteer has left the service of the museum we retain information for at least two years to enable us to provide references if requested to do so. If we believe that a person may ask for a reference at a later date we retain that data for longer unless asked not to do so by the former volunteer.

We retain records of enquiries and interviews for a reasonable time to enable us to respond to enquiries and to review previous history if the person is rejected and later applies again.

We record information and keep it indefinitely regarding persons considered unsuitable for reasons of safeguarding, honesty, or misdemeanours perpetrated either at the museum or elsewhere. Sensitive data is kept separately, with extra security, and accessible only to key personnel.

Staff

We record data regarding applications for positions and retain this data for up to one year, in case a position has to be re-advertised, or any issue is raised by any party regarding the selection process.

We record data about employees for the purposes of administration of the museum and management of staff. This includes next-of-kin data in case of death or serious injury.

We maintain ongoing records of employees during their employment and for five years after they have left our employment for purposes of:

• Responding to a tax investigation
• Responding to requests for references
• Dealing with any claim or request arising after the employee has left the museum's service

Historic Records

The museum maintains an archive including photographs, papers, documents, ephemera and other records that may include the names of living individuals. Such records are preserved for the benefit of future historians. They may be accessed by historical researchers. Appointments are required to view such records and we only grant such appointments to those considered genuine. We have carried out a legitimate interests assessment of such data and consider that there is a negligible risk to the privacy of persons named in such records who may still be alive. Our archives are also subject to exemption under clause 28 of the Data Protection Act 2018.

The collection includes oral history recordings. Consent is obtained from the speaker for such recordings.

Contractors and Suppliers

Whilst most suppliers are businesses, some are individual traders providing goods or services. In some cases we regularly use their services. In other cases the need is rare or occasional, or a contingency requirement. We collect and retain information about suppliers who might be needed in an emergency. We collect and retain contact information for the purposes of procurement of their services. This includes potential suppliers whose services may be wanted in the future. We retain contact information for suppliers and potential suppliers indefinitely, or until that supplier ceases to trade.

Public Enquiries

The museum responds to a range of enquiries from the public relating to canals, industrial history, the management of museums, and unforeseeable topics. We collect and retain only limited contact details, sufficient to enable us to answer. We retain such contact information for a reasonable time in all the circumstances. Details of a simple enquiry may be erased after a few weeks, but in some cases there may be a need for a further response some time later. Unless there are special reasons to do so we do not retain such contact information for more than a year.

Sharing Data

We do not share personal information with anyone, unless:

• You have agreed or asked us to;
• We have to do so by law;
• A government or law enforcement agency asks for it; or
• A Court orders us to share it.

Credit Card Data

Credit card payments for boat trips, and other events are processed by Tygit Ltd on our behalf using the services of Sage Pay. Nobody at the museum has any access to that data.

Credit card data for online purchases is processed by PayPal and we do not have access to the data.

Card payments for venue hire are processed by London Canal Museum using a secure server. Access to the secure server is highly restricted and data once accessed is kept securely. Data provided may be printed and kept in a locked safe. All card data on paper, including notes of telephone payment instructions from customers, is shredded immediately with a cross-cut shredder, once it has been processed.

Membership

We record contact information about members of the Canal Museum Trust for the purposes of membership administration and communication with members. This data is held securely and is not shared with anyone. Members' details are retained for no more than one year after the person has resigned or membership has ended.

Access to Data

Data access requests may be sent by e-mail to info@canalmuseum.org.uk or by letter. We respect your right to:

• Know what data we have on record about you
• Be forgotten

We need to be satisfied that you are who you say you are and may ask you to prove your identity before we respond to a data access request. We will be guided in all cases by the Subject Access Code of Practice published by the Information Commissioner.

Loans to and From the Museum

We keep records of the names and addresses and other contact information for the owners of items or artefacts that are:

• On loan to the museum, whether under a formal loan agreement or otherwise. In the case of items, the owner or which cannot be contacted, we retain whatever information we have available, such as last known address, even if we know it to be out of date. We retain this data for the purpose of management of loans and to help us regain contact with the owner in the future.
• Owned by the museum and on loan to another person or body or site

Donations

The identities of major donors of money are retained for up to eight years as part of our accounting process. No records are kept of the identities of small-scale donors of money.

We retain details of the donors of artefacts, including documents, printed matter, and photographs, for the purposes of:

• Proving that the museum owns the item in the future
• Recording provenance in accordance with accepted good museum practice
• Acknowledgement of the donation where required as a condition of gift or thought desirable by the museum.

Mailing lists

We do not currently operate a mailing list system (other than internally)

Fundraising

We do not currently carry out any form of solicitation of funds from individuals, although donations are of course welcome.

Promotions

We collect limited personal data on paper forms from customers using National Rail trains to travel to London. This data is passed to the agency nominated by ATOC Ltd, the promotors of the scheme. We do not copy or record this data in any way.

Safeguarding

When we take photographs of children in the museum it is our policy to obtain written consent from the parent, guardian, or carer of the child before so doing. We retain such documented consent for as long as the image is likely to be useful to us.

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