Teen accounts: how we protect their data

Why we wrote this

Teen accounts let a parent or guardian follow a teenager’s trips and read their trip messages. Because this involves children’s data and their location, we carried out a data protection impact assessment, as the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 expects for children’s data. This page is the plain-English version of it.

The controller is McNif Global Ltd (trading as NifRide), company number 17379423, 20 Brownhills Road, Walsall, WS8 7BS.

What teen accounts do

A parent adds a teen in the NifRide app with their first name, mobile number and date of birth. The teen gets a text, signs in with that number and has to accept before anything is linked.

The parent or the teen books the teen’s rides, and they’re always paid on the parent’s card. The parent can choose to approve each ride the teen books.

On each teen trip the parent sees the trip live (where the car is, the driver’s first name, the car and number plate, the route, the time to arrive and the price), can read and write in the chat with the driver, can call the driver through the NifRide trip number, and is told about each stage of the trip and any safety check.

The link ends by itself on the teen’s 18th birthday, or when the parent removes the teen, or when either of them deletes their account.

The data we use

The teen’s first name and mobile number, given by the parent. The parent and NifRide see them; the driver sees the first name only, as for any rider.

The teen’s date of birth, given by the parent. Only NifRide’s system uses it, to check they’re 13 to 17 and to end the link at 18. Drivers and operators never see it.

Trip details and where the car is during the trip, seen by the parent, the teen, the driver and the operator, as for any trip. We never track the teen’s phone: the position shown is the driver’s car, and only during a trip.

Trip messages between the teen, the driver and the parent, kept for 30 days like any trip chat.

Safety checks and SOS alerts, shared with the parent as well as the teen.

The parent’s card, held by Paystack. NifRide sees only the card type and last 4 digits.

We don’t use teens’ data for advertising, marketing or profiling, and we never sell it.

Why we’re allowed to use it

The contract with the parent: the trips they book and pay for, and the teen account they set up.

Our legitimate interest in keeping children safe on trips: the parent’s live view, their access to the chat and the safety alerts. The interest is strong (a young person alone in a car), what’s shared is limited to the trip itself, and the teen is told about it clearly.

The parent or guardian consents for the teen, as the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 requires for a child, and the teen accepts the link from their own phone as well.

The risks we looked at, and what we do about them

Someone adding a child who isn’t theirs, to track them. The teen must accept from their own phone number, the invite names the parent, the teen is told who can see their trips on every trip, and a teen can be linked to only one parent at a time.

A teen not knowing they’re being watched. It’s explained before they accept, shown on every trip and in the chat, and their Account screen says who they’re linked to.

A wrong age being entered. Under 13s and over 18s are refused, the parent confirms they’re the parent or legal guardian, and the link ends at 18 by itself. We can’t check ages ourselves, so we rely on the parent.

An unsuitable driver. Every driver’s NIN and driver’s licence are checked against government records, and they hold a police character certificate. Teen trips go only to drivers who chose to take them and meet their operator’s rating and experience bar, the ride code is always needed to start, and the trip is watched for route changes and long stops.

A driver contacting a teen outside the trip. No phone numbers are shared: calls go through the NifRide trip number and messages through the app, the chat closes when the trip ends, and the parent reads every message.

Sharing too much with operators. Operators see that a trip is a teen trip, not the teen’s date of birth or the parent’s details.

Designed for teenagers

Teen accounts exist for young people’s safety on trips. They’re for 13 to 17 year olds only, with explanations written for teenagers. Privacy is high by default: nothing beyond the trip itself is shared. There are no nudges, streaks or marketing. The teen is clearly told, every trip, that their parent can see it.

Questions and your rights

Parents and teens can ask to see, correct or delete their data, or ask us anything about it, at privacy@nifride.co.uk. A teen can contact us about their own data themselves.

You can also complain to the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (ndpc.gov.ng). Our full privacy notice explains the rest of how NifRide uses data.

We review this assessment whenever teen accounts change, and at least once a year. Each change is published here as a new version.