switchmytest
Privacy Policy
Last updated: 13 August 2026
1. Introduction
SwitchMyTest Ltd ("SwitchMyTest", "we", "us" or "our") operates the website switchmytest.co.uk and provides an online platform that allows users to identify and access opportunities to change or swap driving test appointments.
This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store and protect your personal information when you use our website, platform and related services (collectively, the "Services").
We take your privacy seriously and aim to be transparent about the information we collect, why we collect it, how we use it and the circumstances in which it may be shared.
This Privacy Policy applies to visitors to our website, registered users, customers and anyone who otherwise interacts with SwitchMyTest.
By using our Services, you acknowledge that you have read this Privacy Policy.
2. Who We Are
The company responsible for your personal information is:
SwitchMyTest Ltd
25 Guyzance Avenue
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE3 3HP
United Kingdom
Email: gds.school@yahoo.com
For the purposes of applicable UK data protection legislation, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation ("UK GDPR") and the Data Protection Act 2018, SwitchMyTest Ltd is generally the data controller for the personal information we collect and use in connection with our Services.
Google Firebase and Stripe act as our data processors for the services described in sections 12 and 13. They process personal information on our behalf and under our direction, except where they process information independently for their own legal obligations.
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or how we process your personal information, please contact us using the email address above.
3. Personal Information We Collect
The information we collect depends on how you use SwitchMyTest. We may collect the following categories of personal information.
3.1 Account and registration information
When you create an account, we may collect:
- Your name;
- Email address;
- Telephone / mobile number, where provided;
- Town or locality;
- Profile photograph, where you choose to upload one;
- Password or authentication information;
- Account identifier;
- Account status (including suspension where applicable);
- Information necessary to verify or maintain your account.
We use this information to create and administer your account, provide the Services and communicate with you about your account. Your email address and mobile number are stored as private contact details and are not shown publicly on the marketplace.
3.2 Driving test information
Because SwitchMyTest is a driving-test exchange platform, you may provide information relating to your driving test, including:
- Driving test centre;
- Test date;
- Test time;
- Information about an existing driving test appointment;
- Preferred alternative test dates or times;
- Information about test availability;
- Information relating to a swap opportunity;
- Information necessary to facilitate a potential test exchange.
Some of this information may be associated with your account and may therefore constitute personal information. Test centre, date and time may be visible to other signed-in users through your listing so that they can assess a potential swap.
You should only provide information that is necessary for using the Services and should not provide sensitive personal information unless we specifically request it and have a lawful basis for processing it.
3.3 DVSA booking references
If you list a test or proceed with a swap, you may provide your DVSA booking reference. This is treated as confidential.
Your booking reference is never displayed on the public marketplace. It is stored in an encrypted form and is only made available to the other party after both users have accepted the swap and the relevant access payment has been completed.
3.4 Messages and support communications
If you use in-platform messaging after a swap is unlocked, or contact us for support, we may collect the content of those messages, related timestamps, and any information you choose to include.
4. Payment Information
When you purchase a paid service through SwitchMyTest (currently a one-off access fee after a swap is accepted), we collect information necessary to identify and manage the transaction.
Payments are processed using Stripe, a third-party payment service provider.
SwitchMyTest does not ordinarily receive or store your complete payment card number, card security code or other full payment credentials on our own systems. Payment information is submitted to and processed by Stripe in accordance with Stripe's own terms and privacy practices.
We may receive transaction-related information from Stripe, such as:
- Your name;
- Email address;
- Payment status;
- Amount paid;
- Currency;
- Transaction date and time;
- Transaction identifier;
- Refund information;
- Chargeback or dispute information where applicable.
We use this information to confirm payments, provide purchased Services, maintain financial records, process refunds where applicable, prevent fraud and comply with our legal and accounting obligations.
Stripe may process personal information in connection with payment processing, fraud prevention, authentication and related payment services. See section 12.
5. Information You Provide About Other People
You should not provide personal information relating to another person unless you have a lawful reason and, where required, their permission to do so.
For example, if you provide contact information belonging to another person in connection with a potential driving-test exchange, you are responsible for ensuring that you are permitted to provide that information to us.
Where SwitchMyTest receives personal information about another person from you, we may process that information only for the purposes reasonably necessary to provide and administer the relevant Service.
6. Information About Your Use of Our Website
When you use SwitchMyTest, we may automatically collect technical and usage information. This may include:
- IP address;
- Browser type and version;
- Device type;
- Operating system;
- Device identifiers;
- Approximate location derived from technical information;
- Pages visited;
- Features used;
- Date and time of visits;
- Referring websites;
- Login activity;
- Error and diagnostic information;
- Information concerning how you interact with our Services.
We use this information to operate the website, maintain security, diagnose technical problems, understand how the platform is being used and improve our Services.
7. Cookies and Similar Technologies
SwitchMyTest may use cookies and similar technologies.
Cookies may be used to:
- Keep you signed in;
- Remember your preferences;
- Maintain website functionality;
- Protect accounts and transactions;
- Understand website usage;
- Diagnose technical problems;
- Improve the performance and functionality of our Services.
Where applicable, non-essential cookies will only be used in accordance with applicable law and any consent requirements.
You can control certain cookies through your browser settings and, where provided, our cookie consent tools. Blocking certain cookies may affect the functionality of the website.
We do not sell browsing information to third parties for advertising. Full detail is in our Cookies Policy. You must accept that policy to use SwitchMyTest.
8. How We Use Your Personal Information
We may use your personal information for the following purposes.
Providing the Services
We use your information to:
- Create and maintain your account;
- Provide access to SwitchMyTest;
- Display relevant driving-test opportunities;
- Allow you to post or manage test opportunities;
- Allow you to search for potential test swaps;
- Calculate compatibility or match information;
- Provide information you have purchased;
- Facilitate communications or actions necessary to complete a test exchange, including unlocking messaging and booking references after payment;
- Provide customer support.
Processing payments
We use payment and transaction information to:
- Process payments;
- Confirm successful payments;
- Provide paid Services;
- Process refunds where applicable;
- Handle payment disputes and chargebacks;
- Maintain financial records.
Security and fraud prevention
We may process information to:
- Detect fraudulent activity;
- Prevent misuse of the platform;
- Detect suspicious accounts or transactions;
- Protect users and SwitchMyTest;
- Investigate suspected abuse;
- Maintain the security of our website and systems;
- Suspend accounts where reasonably necessary to protect users or the platform.
Communications
We may use your contact details to send:
- Account notifications;
- Payment confirmations;
- Service notifications;
- Test-swap notifications;
- In-platform alerts and messages;
- Security alerts;
- Important changes to our Services;
- Customer support communications.
We may also send marketing communications where permitted by law and, where required, with your consent. You can unsubscribe from marketing communications at any time. We will continue to send essential service and transactional communications where necessary.
Improving our Services
We may analyse information about how our Services are used to improve website functionality, identify technical problems, improve user experience, develop new features, monitor platform performance and understand general usage trends.
Where reasonably possible, information used for analytical purposes may be aggregated or otherwise separated from information that directly identifies individual users.
9. Our Lawful Bases for Processing Personal Information
Under the UK GDPR, we must have a lawful basis for processing personal information. Depending on the circumstances, we may rely on the following lawful bases.
Contract
We process personal information where this is necessary to provide the Services you have requested or to take steps at your request before providing those Services. This may include creating your account, providing access to the platform, providing paid services, processing your payment, managing your account, providing customer support, and delivering information you have requested or purchased.
Legal obligation
We may process personal information where necessary to comply with a legal obligation. This may include accounting and tax requirements, financial record keeping, responding to lawful requests from authorities, compliance with applicable legislation, and preventing or investigating unlawful activity.
Legitimate interests
We may process personal information where necessary for our legitimate interests, provided that those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms.
Our legitimate interests may include:
- Operating and improving SwitchMyTest;
- Maintaining platform security;
- Preventing fraud and abuse;
- Protecting users;
- Recovering debts or enforcing agreements;
- Responding to customer enquiries;
- Understanding how our Services are used;
- Protecting our legal and commercial interests.
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we consider whether the processing is necessary and whether our interests are balanced against your privacy rights. The ICO states that legitimate interests require an organisation to identify a legitimate interest, establish that processing is necessary, and balance that interest against the individual's rights and freedoms.
Consent
Where consent is required by law, we will ask for it before carrying out the relevant processing. You may withdraw consent at any time where processing is based on consent. Withdrawing consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing that took place before consent was withdrawn.
10. Sharing Your Personal Information
We do not sell your personal information.
We may share personal information where necessary to provide our Services, operate our business, process payments, protect users or comply with the law. This may include sharing information with the following categories of recipients.
Payment providers
We use Stripe to process payments. Stripe may process information required to authenticate, process and protect payment transactions. Some payment-related personal information may therefore be processed by Stripe and other organisations involved in the payment system.
Technology and service providers
We use Google Firebase for authentication, cloud storage, database infrastructure, hosting and backend functions, as described in section 13. We may also use third-party providers for email delivery, SMS or notification services, analytics, security, technical support and payment processing.
These providers may process personal information on our behalf and are required to handle information in accordance with applicable contractual and legal requirements.
Other users
SwitchMyTest is designed to facilitate driving-test exchanges between users. Your display name, town, test centre, test date, test time and swap preferences may be visible to other signed-in users through your listing.
Your email address, mobile number and DVSA booking reference are not publicly displayed. Booking references and direct messaging are only unlocked after both parties have accepted the swap and the relevant access payment has been completed. We will not disclose more personal information than is reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it is being shared.
Legal and regulatory authorities
We may disclose personal information where reasonably necessary to comply with a legal obligation, respond to a valid court order, respond to lawful requests from law enforcement or regulatory authorities, investigate suspected fraud or unlawful activity, or protect the rights, safety or property of SwitchMyTest or others. We will only make such disclosures where we have a lawful basis to do so.
11. Third-Party Services
Our Services may use third-party providers. These may include payment processors, hosting providers, cloud infrastructure providers, communication providers, security services and analytics providers.
When we use a third party to process personal information on our behalf, we take reasonable steps to ensure that appropriate contractual, technical and organisational safeguards are in place.
Third parties may also have their own privacy policies governing information they process independently. You should review the privacy information of relevant third-party providers where appropriate, including Google Firebase and Stripe.
12. Stripe
SwitchMyTest uses Stripe to process payments.
When you make a payment, certain information is transferred to Stripe so that the payment can be processed. Stripe may process information for purposes including payment processing, authentication, fraud prevention, security, disputes and compliance.
Stripe's processing of your information is subject to Stripe's own privacy documentation and terms.
SwitchMyTest remains responsible for explaining how we use information within our own Services, while Stripe may independently determine how it processes certain information in connection with its own services and legal obligations.
13. Google Firebase
To provide, secure and maintain our application, we partner with Google Firebase. Google acts as our Data Processor under applicable data protection regulations (including the UK GDPR), meaning they process your data strictly on our behalf and under our direction, except where Google processes information independently to meet its own legal obligations.
The specific Firebase services we use and how they handle your data include:
Firebase Authentication
Handles secure user sign-ups and logins. It processes email addresses, passwords, phone numbers and IP addresses to verify your identity and protect your account from unauthorised access. Passwords are not stored in plain text.
Cloud Firestore Database
Stores application-specific database records, including profiles, listings, swap requests, agreements, messages and notifications. This data is stored and processed securely in Google's data centres located in London, UK (europe-west2).
Firebase Realtime Database
Stores real-time application data and presence information where used. This data is stored securely in Google's data centres in Belgium (europe-west1).
Cloud Storage
Stores files you choose to upload, such as a profile photograph.
Cloud Functions & Hosting
Runs our backend code and serves web assets. These services use transient IP addresses to execute requests and analyse system logs for abuse or performance issues.
Data security and international transfers
Google employs industry-leading security practices to protect your information. All data processed by Firebase is encrypted in transit (using HTTPS), and database records are encrypted at rest on Google's servers.
Google's infrastructure is audited regularly and certified under major global security standards, including ISO 27001, SOC 1, SOC 2 and SOC 3. For users in the United Kingdom and the European Economic Area (EEA), Google utilises Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) to ensure that any international transfers of personal data maintain an equivalent level of protection.
14. International Transfers
Some of our service providers may process personal information outside the United Kingdom. In particular, Google and Stripe operate global infrastructure and may transfer personal information internationally, subject to appropriate safeguards.
Where personal information is transferred outside the UK, we will take appropriate steps to ensure that the transfer is lawful under applicable UK data protection legislation. Depending on the circumstances, this may include:
- Transferring information to a country recognised as providing an adequate level of protection;
- Using appropriate contractual safeguards, including SCCs;
- Using another lawful transfer mechanism recognised under applicable data protection law.
Firestore records used by SwitchMyTest are stored in London, UK (europe-west2). Realtime Database data, where used, is stored in Belgium (europe-west1). Where required, further information about relevant safeguards may be obtained by contacting us.
15. How Long We Keep Your Information
We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. The period for which information is retained will depend on the type of information and why we collected it.
Account information
May be retained while your account remains active and for a reasonable period afterwards where necessary for legitimate business, legal or security purposes.
Transaction and payment records
May be retained for as long as necessary to comply with accounting, tax, financial and legal requirements.
Customer support records
May be retained for as long as reasonably necessary to resolve the issue and maintain appropriate records.
Security and fraud records
May be retained for as long as reasonably necessary to investigate and prevent fraud, abuse or security incidents.
Test-swap information
Listings, booking references, requests and messages may be deleted or anonymised when they are no longer reasonably required for the relevant Service, including when a swap is completed and associated user data is removed, or when you delete your account.
You can remove your listings or request deletion of your account at any time. When your account is deleted, we will remove or anonymise your personal data unless we are legally required to retain certain information, or it is necessary to establish or defend legal claims or prevent fraud or abuse.
The ICO expects privacy information to explain either retention periods or the criteria used to determine how long information is retained.
16. Data Security
We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against unauthorised access, accidental loss, destruction, alteration, disclosure and misuse.
Security measures may include:
- Access controls and authentication;
- HTTPS encryption in transit;
- Encryption of database records at rest on Google's servers;
- Encrypted storage of DVSA booking references;
- Separation of public profile data from private contact details;
- Secure infrastructure and monitoring for suspicious activity;
- Google infrastructure certifications including ISO 27001, SOC 1, SOC 2 and SOC 3.
However, no online system can be guaranteed to be completely secure. You are responsible for keeping your account credentials confidential and should notify us if you believe your account has been accessed without permission.
17. Your Data Protection Rights
Depending on the circumstances and subject to applicable law, you may have the following rights:
- Right of access — you may request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
- Right to rectification — you may ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete personal information.
- Right to erasure — you may ask us to delete your personal information in certain circumstances. This right is not absolute. We may need to retain certain information to comply with legal obligations, prevent fraud, resolve disputes or establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
- Right to restriction — you may ask us to restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
- Right to object — you may object to certain processing, including processing based on legitimate interests. You have an absolute right to object to the use of your personal information for direct marketing.
- Right to data portability — where applicable, you may request certain personal information in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and ask for it to be transferred to another organisation.
- Right to withdraw consent — where we process your information based on consent, you may withdraw that consent.
The availability of these rights depends on the lawful basis and circumstances of the processing. The ICO confirms that the rights available to an individual can depend on the lawful basis relied upon.
18. How to Exercise Your Rights
To exercise any of your data protection rights, contact:
SwitchMyTest Ltd
25 Guyzance Avenue
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE3 3HP
United Kingdom
Email: gds.school@yahoo.com
We may need to verify your identity before completing certain requests. This is intended to prevent personal information being disclosed to someone who is not authorised to receive it.
We aim to respond to valid requests within the time period required by applicable data protection legislation.
19. Complaints
If you have concerns about how we process your personal information, please contact us first at gds.school@yahoo.com. We will make reasonable efforts to investigate and resolve your concern.
You also have the right to complain to the UK's data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), if you believe your personal information has been processed unlawfully or your data protection rights have not been respected.
Further information about making a complaint is available from the ICO website.
20. Children's Privacy
SwitchMyTest is intended for users aged 17 and over, which is the minimum age for taking a UK practical driving test. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 17.
Where a person is under 18, they should only use our Services where they are legally able to do so and with any required involvement or permission of a parent or guardian.
We do not intentionally collect sensitive information about children for purposes unrelated to providing the Services.
If you believe that a child has provided personal information to us in circumstances where this was not appropriate, please contact us.
21. Automated Decision-Making and Profiling
SwitchMyTest does not currently make decisions based solely on automated processing or profiling that produce legal effects or similarly significant effects on individuals.
We may use automated systems for ordinary operational purposes, such as:
- Matching or displaying relevant test opportunities;
- Calculating compatibility or match scores;
- Sorting or filtering information;
- Detecting suspicious activity;
- Identifying potential fraudulent behaviour;
- Improving platform security.
These systems do not replace your legal rights or prevent you from contacting us. If our use of automated decision-making changes materially, we will update this Privacy Policy where required.
22. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time.
Changes may be necessary because of:
- Changes to our Services;
- Changes to how we process personal information;
- Changes to our technology;
- Changes to applicable legislation or regulatory guidance.
When we make material changes, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this Privacy Policy and, where appropriate, provide additional notice. We recommend that you periodically review this Privacy Policy.
23. Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, your personal information or your data protection rights, please contact us.
SwitchMyTest Ltd
25 Guyzance Avenue
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE3 3HP
United Kingdom
Email: gds.school@yahoo.com
Website: switchmytest.co.uk
We will endeavour to respond to privacy-related enquiries as soon as reasonably practicable.
Ready to switch your test?
Create a free switchmytest account to list your test and search the marketplace.