Privacy notice

This notice explains how Westford Lane collects, uses and protects personal data when you visit westfordlane.com. It is written to satisfy the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018, and is supervised in the United Kingdom by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

1. Data controller

The data controller for the personal data processed through this website is Westford Lane, an independent editorial bureau based in Sheffield, United Kingdom. You can contact us at info@westfordlane.com for any matter relating to this notice or to your personal data.

2. What personal data we collect

We deliberately collect very little personal data. The website is a static editorial publication and does not require you to create an account.

• Technical data — IP address, browser type, referring URL, pages requested, timestamps. This is generated automatically by your browser and our hosting provider when you load any web page.
• Optional analytics data — if you accept optional cookies, we record aggregated, non-identifying interaction events (page views, scroll depth, outbound link clicks) to understand which reviews are read.
• Correspondence — if you email us, we keep your message and our reply for as long as needed to handle the matter and a reasonable archival period afterwards.

We do not knowingly collect data from anyone under the age of 18. The age gate on every page is intended to reinforce this. If you believe a minor has used this site, please contact us and we will delete any associated records.

3. Lawful basis for processing

We rely on the following UK GDPR lawful bases (Article 6):

• Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)) — to operate the website securely, prevent abuse, and produce aggregate statistics on which reviews are read. We have weighed our interest against your rights and freedoms.
• Consent (Art. 6(1)(a)) — for optional analytics cookies. You can grant or refuse consent through the cookie banner; you can withdraw consent at any time by clearing cookies in your browser.
• Legal obligation (Art. 6(1)(c)) — for retention of records where required by tax law, advertising-standards rules or court order.

4. How we use the data

We use the limited data we hold to operate and improve the website, to protect it against abuse, to respond to your correspondence, and to comply with our legal obligations as an affiliate publisher of UKGC-licensed operators. We do not sell personal data, we do not share it with advertisers, and we do not use it for profiling or automated decision-making.

5. Cookies

We use a small number of essential cookies required for the website to work, and (only if you have given consent) a small number of optional analytics cookies. Full detail is in the cookies notice.

6. Sharing your data

Personal data is shared only with:

• Our hosting provider, which stores the website on its infrastructure within the United Kingdom or European Economic Area.
• Our email provider, where we receive correspondence sent to info@westfordlane.com.
• Public authorities where required by law (for example, in response to a valid legal request).

We do not transfer personal data outside the United Kingdom or European Economic Area without putting in place the safeguards required by UK GDPR Chapter V.

7. Retention

Technical logs are retained for up to 30 days for security and abuse-prevention purposes, then deleted or anonymised. Aggregated analytics data is retained for up to 26 months. Email correspondence is retained for as long as needed to handle the matter, and for up to 36 months thereafter for reference.

8. Your rights

Under UK GDPR you have the following rights, which you can exercise free of charge by writing to info@westfordlane.com:

• Right of access to your personal data (Art. 15).
• Right to rectification of inaccurate data (Art. 16).
• Right to erasure, in the circumstances described in Art. 17.
• Right to restriction of processing (Art. 18).
• Right to data portability for data processed on the basis of consent or contract (Art. 20).
• Right to object to processing carried out on the basis of legitimate interests (Art. 21).
• Right to withdraw consent at any time, where consent is the lawful basis.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk) if you believe we have not handled your personal data lawfully.

9. Changes to this notice

If we materially change this notice we will update the revision date at the top of this page and, where the change is significant, publish a short summary of the change on the bureau index page.