Open 7 days a week, 9am to 6pm

Privacy Policy

Last updated: 18 August 2026

This policy explains how Zola Driving School Ltd("we", "us") collects, uses and protects personal data, in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

We deliberately hold very little. This website has no database, no accounts to sign up for and no payment system — an enquiry reaches us as a message and is answered as one. We do not take payment for lessons at all: you pay your instructor directly. The sections below describe exactly what that means in practice.

Who we are

Zola Driving School Ltd is the data controller for the personal data described in this policy. Our registered details are:

Registered name:
Zola Driving School Ltd
Company number:
17369994, registered in England and Wales
Registered office:
Wellfield Road, Crumpsall, Manchester, M8 5GD
Contact:
info@zoladrivingschool.co.uk · 07377 886828

For any question about this policy, contact us at info@zoladrivingschool.co.uk. We are not required to appoint a Data Protection Officer, so enquiries are handled by the business owner directly.

What we collect

When you enquire about lessons — the details you give us: your name, phone number, the area or postcode you want lessons in, your preferred course and call-back time, and anything you write in the message field. If you contact us by WhatsApp or phone instead, we hold whatever you tell us through that conversation.

If you apply to teach with us — your name, email address, phone number, qualification status, your ADI or PDI badge number, and the areas and transmissions you can teach. Once you teach with us we also hold copies of the checks we are required to make: your ADI or PDI certificate, driving licence, enhanced DBS certificate and insurance. Instructor records are the one category we keep on an ongoing basis, because we need them to run the business.

Lessons reported by instructors — because instructors pay us a fee for the learners we introduce, each instructor reports to us the lessons they have delivered to learners we introduced. That report identifies the learner by name and shows the number of hours delivered and the amount charged. It is used only to work out the fee the instructor owes us. We do not receive or hold your progress notes, licence details, lesson content or any assessment of your driving.

What we do not collect

We do not take payment for lessons, so we never see or hold your card details, and there is no payment form anywhere on this site. We do not keep a customer database, a booking system or learner files. We do not hold your lesson history beyond the fee report described above, and we do not hold progress notes, licence details or eyesight check records — those are held by your instructor, as explained below. We do not use tracking or advertising cookies, we run no analytics, and we do not carry out any automated decision-making or profiling. We do not sell, rent or share your data with third parties for marketing, and we do not send marketing to people who have only enquired.

Where your enquiry actually goes

The enquiry form sends your message to our email inbox through a third party email delivery provider, which only transmits it. The website itself stores nothing. Our email inbox, and our WhatsApp conversation with you, are therefore the only record of your enquiry that we hold.

Passing your details to an instructor

Our instructors are self-employed and run their own driving tuition businesses. When we match you with one, we pass on the contact details and lesson preferences you gave us, so they can arrange lessons with you directly.

From that point, your instructor is an independent data controller for the information they go on to hold about you — your lesson bookings, any payments you make to them, any progress notes they keep, and the licence and eyesight checks they are required to carry out. They are responsible for that data under their own privacy practices, and you can ask them directly what they hold. We are responsible for the introduction itself, for the enquiry record that sits in our inbox, and for the fee report described above.

Why we use it, and our lawful basis

UK GDPR requires a lawful basis for each use of your data. Ours are:

  • Answering your enquiry and matching you with an instructor — taking steps at your request before entering into a contract, and our legitimate interest in responding to people who ask us about lessons.
  • Considering an instructor application and keeping instructor records — taking steps at your request before entering into a contract, and performance of that contract once you teach with us.
  • Holding evidence of instructors' qualifications, DBS checks and insurance — our legitimate interest in checking that anyone we introduce to a learner is properly qualified, checked and insured, and our legitimate interest in safeguarding.
  • Recording lessons reported by instructors — performance of our contract with the instructor, and our legitimate interest in being paid the fee we are owed.
  • Keeping records of fees paid to us by instructors — our legal obligation to retain accounting records.
  • Preventing abuse of our forms — our legitimate interest in keeping the site working, which is why form submissions are rate limited for a short period.

Who else sees it

  • The self-employed instructor we match you with, as described above.
  • Our website host, email delivery provider and WhatsApp, which carry the messages between us. Messages you send us on WhatsApp are also subject to WhatsApp's own privacy policy.
  • Our accountant and our bank, in relation to the fees instructors pay us. Because learners do not pay us, learner payment information does not pass through our bank at all.
  • Any authority we are legally required to disclose to, and our insurer or legal advisers if a claim arises.

Some of these suppliers process data outside the UK. Where they do, we rely on UK adequacy regulations or the International Data Transfer Agreement, so your data keeps equivalent protection.

How long we keep it

  • Enquiries — up to 12 months in our inbox and WhatsApp history, then deleted. You can ask us to delete yours sooner.
  • Lesson reports from instructors — 6 years from the end of the relevant financial year, because they support the fees we have been paid and form part of our accounting records.
  • Records of fees paid to us by instructors — 6 years from the end of the relevant financial year, as required by the Companies Act 2006.
  • Instructor records, including qualification, DBS and insurance evidence — for as long as the instructor teaches with us, and up to 6 years afterwards.
  • Unsuccessful instructor applications — up to 12 months, unless you ask us to delete them sooner.

Anything your instructor holds about you is kept according to their own retention practices, not ours.

How we protect it

The enquiry form is transmitted over an encrypted connection, and our email and WhatsApp accounts are access-controlled and limited to the people who need them to run the business. Because we hold so little, there is very little to lose. No transmission over the internet can be guaranteed completely secure, but we take technical and organisational measures appropriate to the limited data we hold.

One practical warning. We never ask learners for payment and we never send bank details for lessons — you pay your instructor directly. If you receive a message from anyone claiming to be Zola Driving School asking you to transfer money, it is not us. Do not send anything, and call us on 07377 886828 to check.

Your rights

Under UK GDPR you have the right to be told what personal data we hold about you and to request a copy of it, to have inaccurate data corrected, to ask us to delete it, to restrict or object to how we use it, and to receive it in a portable format. Where we rely on legitimate interests, you can object and we will stop unless we have compelling grounds to continue.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at info@zoladrivingschool.co.uk. We will respond within one month, and there is no charge unless a request is manifestly unfounded or excessive. For anything your instructor holds, ask them directly — we will pass on their contact details if you no longer have them.

Learners under 18

You can start lessons at 17, so some learners contacting us are under 18. We collect the same limited information from them as from anyone else. Where a learner is under 18 we ask that a parent or guardian arranges the booking and payment with the instructor, and we will discuss lesson arrangements with a parent or guardian on request.

Every instructor we introduce a learner to holds a current enhanced DBS certificate. If you have a safeguarding concern, contact us on 07377 886828 or at info@zoladrivingschool.co.uk.

Cookies

This site sets no non-essential cookies and runs no advertising or analytics trackers, so there is no consent banner to dismiss. The one third party embed is the Google map on our contact page: it loads only when you open that page, and it is Google's code running in Google's frame, so Google may set cookies there under its own policy.

Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data, please tell us first so we can put it right. You also have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk, or on 0303 123 1113.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated revision date. Our terms of service cover the lessons themselves, including how payment, cancellation and refunds work with your instructor.