Last updated: September 2026
This Privacy Policy explains how Gearshift LTD collects, uses and protects personal information in connection with Gearshift Driving School and driving tuition provided by Marcin Katarzynski.
Who is responsible for your information
The data controller is:
Gearshift LTD
Trading as Gearshift Driving School
Plymouth, United Kingdom
Email: gearshiftschool@gmail.com
Phone/WhatsApp: 07415 692969
Information I may collect
Depending on the services you use, I may collect information including:
- your name;
- address and pickup location;
- telephone number and email address;
- date of birth;
- driving licence information;
- lesson bookings and attendance;
- lesson and driving-progress records;
- theory and practical test information;
- payment and transaction records;
- communications between us;
- information relevant to your ability to drive safely;
- photographs or testimonials where you have agreed to their use;
- information recorded through Total Drive; and
- dashcam footage and audio.
I only aim to collect information that is reasonably necessary for providing driving tuition, running the business, meeting legal obligations or protecting legitimate interests.
Why I use your information
Personal information may be used to:
- arrange and provide driving lessons;
- communicate with you about bookings;
- maintain lesson and progress records;
- manage payments and block bookings;
- help prepare for and manage driving tests;
- maintain appropriate business and financial records;
- establish, exercise or defend legal claims;
- respond to incidents, complaints or disputes;
- protect the safety and security of learners, the instructor, the tuition vehicle and other road users; and
- comply with legal or regulatory obligations.
Lawful bases for processing
Depending on the purpose, Gearshift LTD may process personal information because:
- it is necessary to provide the driving tuition or other service you have requested, or to take steps before entering into that arrangement;
- there is a legal obligation to retain or provide particular information;
- it is necessary for legitimate business interests, such as maintaining appropriate records, protecting the tuition vehicle, handling disputes and operating the business safely; or
- you have given consent for a particular optional use of your information.
The appropriate lawful basis depends on why the information is being used.
Health and other sensitive information
Information about your health may be relevant if it affects your ability to drive safely or the way your driving tuition should be provided.
Health information is treated as special category personal data and receives additional protection.
I will only collect health information that is relevant and necessary. Where explicit consent is the appropriate condition for processing this information, I will ask you to provide that consent separately and clearly.
You can withdraw consent where processing relies on consent. This does not affect processing that took place lawfully before consent was withdrawn or information that must be retained under another lawful basis.
You remain responsible for meeting DVLA medical requirements and for telling DVLA about a medical condition where the law requires you to do so.
Total Drive
I use Total Drive, a driving-instructor management service, to help manage learner information, lessons and progress.
Information stored through Total Drive may include contact details, lesson bookings, payments, progress records and other information needed to manage your driving tuition.
Your Total Drive learner account may be made inactive when you stop taking lessons or pass your test.
Learner records held through Total Drive are normally retained for up to five years after tuition ends and are then deleted or anonymised where appropriate, unless there is a legal or legitimate reason to retain particular information for longer.
Dashcam and audio recording
The tuition vehicle is fitted with an externally facing dashcam. Audio is also recorded.
Recordings may be used for purposes including:
- safety;
- investigating a collision or other incident;
- dealing with an insurance matter;
- establishing what happened in the event of a complaint or dispute; and
- establishing, exercising or defending legal claims.
Recordings are not intended to be used for general monitoring of learners.
Footage or audio may be provided to an insurer, the police, a court, a regulator or another appropriate organisation where there is a lawful and necessary reason to do so.
Dashcam recordings are not kept for longer than reasonably necessary for the purpose for which they were recorded or subsequently preserved. Recordings relating to an incident, complaint, insurance matter or legal claim may be retained for as long as reasonably necessary to deal with that matter.
Photographs, Success Stories and testimonials
I will not publish an identifiable learner photograph, Success Story or testimonial on the Gearshift Driving School website or social media simply because you have taken lessons with me.
I will ask for your permission before publishing identifiable learner content.
Where publication relies on your consent, you can withdraw that consent for future use by contacting me.
Withdrawal does not make previous lawful use unlawful, but I will stop future use and remove content under my control where appropriate and reasonably practicable.
Sharing your information
I do not sell personal information.
Information may be shared where necessary with organisations or service providers involved in running the business or providing the service, such as:
- Total Drive;
- payment or banking providers;
- professional advisers;
- insurers;
- IT, hosting or website service providers;
- DVSA or DVLA where appropriate;
- the police, courts or other public authorities where legally required or justified.
Only information reasonably necessary for the relevant purpose should be shared.
Where a service provider processes personal information on behalf of Gearshift LTD, appropriate data-protection arrangements should apply.
How information is stored
I take reasonable steps to protect personal information.
Electronic information is protected through appropriate account, password and device security. Physical records, where used, are kept securely.
Access to learner information is limited to those who have a legitimate need to access it.
How long information is kept
Different types of information may need to be retained for different periods.
- Active learner information is kept while tuition is being provided.
- Total Drive learner records are normally retained for up to five years after tuition ends.
- Lesson and progress records may be retained for up to five years where reasonably required.
- Financial and transaction records are retained for the period required for accounting, tax or other legal obligations.
- Dashcam recordings are retained only for as long as reasonably necessary for their purpose.
- Incident, insurance, complaint or legal records may be retained for as long as reasonably necessary to deal with the matter or establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
- Information based solely on consent will not be retained for that purpose after valid consent is withdrawn, unless another lawful reason for retaining it applies.
Information that is no longer required will be deleted, anonymised or securely destroyed as appropriate.
Your rights
Depending on the circumstances and the lawful basis being used, data-protection law may give you rights including the right to:
- ask what personal information I hold about you;
- obtain a copy of your personal information;
- have inaccurate information corrected;
- ask for information to be deleted in certain circumstances;
- ask for processing to be restricted in certain circumstances;
- object to certain types of processing;
- receive or transfer certain information where the right to data portability applies; and
- withdraw consent at any time where processing relies on consent.
These rights are not absolute and some may not apply in every situation.
To make a request, contact gearshiftschool@gmail.com. I may need to confirm your identity before releasing or changing personal information.
Complaints about your personal information
If you have a concern about how your information has been handled, please contact me first so that I can investigate it.
You also have the right to raise a concern with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s data-protection regulator.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy may be updated when the way Gearshift Driving School operates changes, when service providers change or when legal requirements change.
The latest version will be published on this website with the date of the most recent update.