Privacy policy

This policy explains what personal information ScrapWise collects, why, who we share it with, how long we keep it and your rights. It applies to sellers, collectors, yard staff and visitors to our website.

Who is responsible for your information

  • Combrook Limited trading as ScrapWise , a company registered in England and Wales, number 12789408
  • Registered office: Park Lane, Poynton, Cheshire SK12 1RQ
  • Registered with the Information Commissioner's Office, number 00015746897
  • Email: admin@scrapwise.uk · Phone: 0161 244 5566

We are the controller of the information in your ScrapWise account. When a yard buys from you, that yard is also a controller of the purchase records and ID checks it makes, which it must keep by law.

What we collect

  • Identity and contact details: name, date of birth, address, email, phone, and for businesses the business name, company and VAT numbers, registered office, licence and permit numbers, and the directors and people with significant control.
  • Identity documents: copies of photo ID, bank statements, bills, and business documents such as VAT certificates, certificates of incorporation and waste carrier licences.
  • Check results: the outcome and history of our identity and business checks.
  • Trading records: tickets, materials, weights, prices, vehicle registrations, payment references and the Defra waste tracking records made for each purchase.
  • Account and messages: your login, plan, the yards you trade with, and messages with ScrapWise.
  • Website use: questions asked through "Ask ScrapWise" and postcodes searched, plus basic technical information such as your IP address for security.
  • Collection requests: when you book a scrap collection, your name, address, phone, email, what you'd like collected and when. For a scrap car, its registration and details, which we check with DVLA's vehicle enquiry service and DVSA's MOT history service.

Why we use it, and our legal basis

  • To provide your account and ScrapWise's services — contract.
  • So yards can keep the records the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 requires, and report loads to Defra's Digital Waste Tracking service — legal obligation.
  • To check identities and businesses, prevent fraud, stolen-metal sales and money laundering, and keep ScrapWise secure — legitimate interests and, where it applies, legal obligation.
  • To answer your questions and contact you about your account — contract and legitimate interests.
  • To pass your collection request to collectors near you, and your contact details to the one who accepts it — your consent, given when you book.

We don't sell your information and we don't use it for advertising. We don't make decisions about you that have legal effects using automated processing alone — a person reviews identity and business checks.

Who we share it with

  • Yards you choose, or that add you by your QR code or account number and postcode. Each yard sees only its own dealings with you.
  • Collectors, when you book a collection: up to three collectors near you see your area, what you'd like collected and when; only the collector who accepts sees your name, address, phone and email. For a scrap car, up to five collectors see the car and your area; only the one whose offer you accept sees your details.
  • Defra, which receives a waste tracking record for each load a yard buys.
  • The police, HMRC, local councils and other authorities when the law requires it or to prevent crime.
  • Service providers who run ScrapWise for us under contract: our hosting and email provider (Fasthosts, UK), and, for "Ask ScrapWise" only, Anthropic, which processes the question you type to produce an answer. Anthropic may process data in the United States under appropriate safeguards; don't include personal details in your question.

If you choose to be listed publicly as a collector or service, the details you choose to show appear on the public website.

How long we keep it

  • Purchase records and the ID checks behind them: at least 3 years from the sale, as the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 requires.
  • Identity and business check records: for 5 years after your account closes.
  • "Ask ScrapWise" questions: 30 days.
  • Collection requests: your personal details are deleted 12 months after the request.
  • Other account information: while your account is open, then deleted or anonymised unless we must keep it by law.

Keeping it safe

Identity documents are stored privately and are only shown to signed-in users who are allowed to see them. Connections to ScrapWise are encrypted, and access to records is logged.

Cookies

ScrapWise only uses cookies that are needed for the site to work — keeping you signed in and protecting forms from misuse. We don't use advertising or tracking cookies, so we don't ask for cookie consent.

Your rights

You can ask to see the information we hold about you, to correct it, to delete it, to restrict or object to how we use it, or to receive a copy to take elsewhere. Some rights are limited where we or a yard must keep records by law. To use your rights, contact us. We'll reply within one month.

If you're unhappy with how we've used your information you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk — but please contact us first so we can try to put it right.

Changes

We'll update this policy when how we use information changes, and tell account holders about important changes.

Last updated 6 October 2026.