In short
- We only hold what Bookman needs to work: things like your driving licence number, so we can fill in DVSA’s pages for you.
- We never see your card details. We never sell your data to anyone.
- Alerts, analytics and personalised ads are all your call. You switch them on or off.
- Want to leave? Delete your account any time and everything goes with it.
Who we are
Bookman is made by PALORA LABS LTD, registered in England and Wales (company number 17499275, registered office Suite Ra01, 195-197 Wood Street, London E17 3NU). We’re the ones responsible for your data: the "controller" under UK data protection law.
This policy covers everything: the Bookman app on iPhone and Android, and this website. Got a question about your data? Get in touch.
What we collect, and why
We collect what Bookman needs to find you a test and fill in DVSA’s booking pages. Analytics are optional, and ads on the free plan only use personal data if you say yes.
| What | Why we need it | Legal basis | How long we keep it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Driving licence number | To fill in DVSA’s booking pages for you. | Contract | Until you delete your account. |
| Driving test reference number or theory test pass number | To fill in DVSA’s pages when you change a test you’ve booked. | Contract | Until you delete your account |
| App usage | How you use the app, to help us improve Bookman. | Legitimate interests (you can turn it off) | Anonymised and kept indefinitely |
| Crash and error reports | To find and fix problems. | Legitimate interests | Anonymised and kept indefinitely |
| Messages to support | Your email and message, so we can reply. | Legitimate interests | Up to 1 year |
| Account deletion requests | Your licence number, reference number (if you give it) and email, so we can find and delete your account. | Legal obligation | Up to 1 year |
We don’t know your name, home address, card details or where you are. When you pay for a test, that happens on DVSA’s own site, not ours.
Bookman and DVSA
When you book a test, Bookman opens DVSA’s site and fills in the pages with your details: licence number, reference, centre, date and time. Once you’re on DVSA’s site, their privacy notice applies, not ours.
Bookman is completely independent. We’re not part of DVSA or GOV.UK, and they haven’t approved us.
Your choices
You’re in control of what Bookman does with your data.
- Alerts. Turn them on or off in the Alerts tab, or in your phone’s settings.
- App usage. Don’t want to share how you use the app? Turn it off in Settings › Privacy settings › Analytics.
- Ads (Free only). Google will ask before using your data to personalise ads. You can change your mind any time in Settings › Privacy settings › Cookies. On iPhone, Apple also asks separately. You can change that in iPhone Settings.
- Premium has no ads at all. The ads code doesn’t even load.
Who we share it with
We work with a handful of providers to keep Bookman running. They only use your data to do their job for us, and each one has a written agreement with us.
- Hosting: stores your account and runs Bookman’s backend, in the UK.
- Payments: Apple, Google and our subscription provider handle Premium purchases. We never see your card number.
- Notifications: delivers slot alerts to your phone.
- Analytics and crash reports: helps us spot problems and improve things. Linked to a random id, not to you.
- Advertising (Free only): Google AdMob shows the ad. It only uses personal data if you’ve agreed to it.
- Email: delivers our replies when you write to us.
We might also share data if the law says we have to, or to protect Bookman and its users from fraud. If Bookman is ever sold, your data would go to the new owner under this same policy, and we’d let you know beforehand.
Data outside the UK
Some of our providers are based in the US. When your data crosses borders, it’s protected under the UK-US Data Bridge, UK adequacy regulations or the UK International Data Transfer Agreement.
Keeping it safe
- Your licence and reference numbers sit in your phone’s secure storage. On our side, only your own app can read them.
- Everything between your phone, our servers and our providers is encrypted.
- Your licence number is automatically stripped from logs and error reports.
Nothing is bulletproof. If something ever went wrong and your data was at risk, we’d tell you and the ICO straight away, as the law requires.
Your rights
UK data protection law gives you the right to:
- get a copy of your data
- have it corrected
- have it deleted
- object to how we use it, or ask us to limit it
- take your data somewhere else in a portable format
- withdraw consent at any time, for alerts, ads, or anything else you agreed to
Just get in touch and we’ll sort it within a month. If you want to wipe everything, go to Settings › Delete my account in the app, or use our deletion form.
We don’t make automated decisions about you that have legal or similar effects.
If you’re not happy with how we’ve handled things, you can complain to the ICO, but we’d appreciate the chance to put it right first.
Cookies
The website uses a few essential cookies to keep things working and remember your login. We don’t use any advertising or tracking cookies on the site.
In the free app, Google asks for your consent before using your advertising ID to personalise the ad. We also collect basic app usage data to help improve Bookman. You can manage both in Settings › Privacy settings.
Age
You need to be at least 17 to book a car test in Great Britain, so Bookman is built for that age group. We don’t knowingly collect data from anyone younger.
Changes to this policy
If anything changes, we’ll update the date at the top of this page. For anything significant, we’ll give you a heads-up in the app before it takes effect.