We can. Our CCTV and the door entry systems you use to get in can record your visits, and some of our site pages say our systems also "log each time a unit is accessed". Other customers aren't named among the people our privacy notice says we share information with. The main people besides us who may see your record are the police or other agencies investigating unlawful activity or where the law requires it, firms working for us under contract, anyone you've named as a contact on your account, and someone acting for you, such as your attorney or the person administering your will. You can ask us for a copy of your own record.
Running a business? See an access log of staff visits. Acting for a parent or an estate? See acting for someone else. Worried someone may track when you visit? See what to ask us.
What gets recorded
Our privacy notice says that when you visit, "some personal data may be collected from monitoring devices and systems such as closed circuit TV (CCTV) and door entry systems at the site." That covers two records:
- CCTV. Our CCTV answer says it is "monitored by professionals". If it matters to you who does the monitoring, ask us.
- Entry records. You get in through the access control on the external doors and, at sites with smart entry, you open your unit with it. The pages for Burton-on-Trent, Cheltenham, Chipping Norton, Dorking, Leatherhead, Lincoln, Marlow, Reading, Shipston-on-Stour and Tewkesbury say: "Our security systems also log each time a unit is accessed."
If your site isn't in that list, or you rent a container unit, ask us when you book whether entries to your unit are logged in the same way.
Who can see it
This is who our privacy notice says we may share personal information with, cut to the people who matter for your visit record:
| Who | When, in our privacy notice's words |
|---|---|
| Us (Wigwam) | For CCTV, to "deliver a secure self storage environment", to "establish whether you are doing something that breaches your contract with us" and to "assist in the establishment or defence of any crime or other investigation". The notice doesn't give separate purposes for the unit log |
| Police and other agencies | "in connection with any investigation to help prevent or detect unlawful activity" |
| Any person or agency | where we need to share information "to comply with the law or to enforce any agreement we may have with you or to protect the health and safety of any person" |
| Firms working for us | "service providers under contract with us", such as technology services. We require them to follow our instructions "and not for their own business purposes" |
| Someone you've named on your account | "any person who you have named as a person we can contact to discuss your account". We may "discuss and share the details of your account" with them and "deal with that person in relation to your account as if that person was you". The notice doesn't say whether that includes your visits, so ask |
| Someone acting for you | "the holder of a power of attorney, a legal guardian or person administering a will" |
The full list also includes credit reference agents, "our insurers and insurance brokers if you take out insurance cover through us", trade associations we belong to, a potential buyer of our business and "credit card associations if specifically required".
Which of our staff can see entry records isn't published; ask us on 0800 2545585.
Separately, clause 17 of our terms lets us enter your unit in set cases, such as repairs on at least seven days' notice, an emergency (with notice "as soon as practicable after the event"), or when the law, the police or a court requires it.
Getting a copy of your own record
You have a legal right to a copy of the personal information we hold about you, called a subject access request. Email info@wigwamstorage.co.uk, the address in our privacy notice, with proof of identity and address (the notice asks for "a copy of your driving licence or passport and a recent utility or credit card bill"), and give the dates you want. We "will not charge any fee for any of these services in most cases". The Information Commissioner's Office says organisations usually have one month to respond.
Whether you can see your own entry history in smart entry, or have it sent outside a subject access request, isn't published: ask on 0800 2545585.
Our privacy notice says we usually keep customer information for 6 years from the end of the contract. We don't publish how long CCTV footage or entry records are kept, so if you need them, ask straight away.
If you think someone got into your unit or took something, report it to the police as well as to us.
For businesses: an access log of staff visits
Our location pages say the log is "especially useful for businesses who have to keep track of who accessed what and when." Whether it shows which person's access opened the unit isn't published, so ask us before you rely on it. If it does, it can only tell staff apart when each has access in their own name: give each person their own (our guide to sharing access explains how) and remove it when they leave.
A subject access request covers only your own personal information, so to see when staff went in, ask us promptly for your unit's entry record with the dates. If you might rely on it in a disciplinary matter, take HR or legal advice first.
Acting for someone else
If you hold a power of attorney for a customer or are their legal guardian, you're among those our privacy notice says we may share information with. Call us with your paperwork.
A power of attorney ends when the person dies. After that, the executor or administrator deals with us; expect us to need proof of their authority before we release access to the unit. Anyone the customer had shared access with shouldn't use it after the death: ring us on 0800 2545585 first. A subject access request can't be made for someone who has died: the UK GDPR applies only to living people. See what happens when the renter dies and our solicitors' guide to probate.
For siblings sharing a unit while an estate is settled, our guide to using storage as neutral ground calls the access record "proof, in both directions", which holds only if each has access in their own name.
If you're worried someone may track your visits
If someone you're leaving, or afraid of, could find out when you visit, ask us to change two separate things:
- their access to your unit, if you gave them any (see sharing access);
- their name as a contact on your account. While they're named, the notice lets us deal with them "as if that person was you". Our privacy notice says you can email info@wigwamstorage.co.uk or write to us to have a contact "taken off your account".
If the unit is in joint names, they're a customer under the agreement in their own right, not someone you gave access to; ask us what can be changed.
When you call 0800 2545585, also ask how quickly access is removed, whether we check a caller's identity before discussing your account, whether you can add a password or note, and whether anyone gets a notification when your unit is opened. If they hold a power of attorney for you, cancelling it happens outside Wigwam; tell us once it's done. You can also book a unit in your name alone; see storage during a separation.
For free, confidential support, the National Domestic Abuse Helpline is open day and night on 0808 2000 247. In an emergency, call 999.
Booking with us
Find your site on our locations page, then get a price online or call 0800 2545585 and ask about entry records before you book.
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