Privacy Policy and Cookie policy

Protected Trust Services (PTS)  is committed to protecting your privacy. This notice sets out how we will use any personal data that we hold for you.

The data controller is Protected Trust Services Ltd. 307 -315 Holdenhurst Road. Bournemouth Dorset BH8 8BX

The information we might hold about you
Depending on the reason that you have contacted us or we have contacted you we will hold the following information about you:

Information you supply to us directly
This is information about you that you give us when you wish to make use of our services by filling in forms on our website, www.protectedtrustservices.com, or by corresponding with us by phone, e-mail or otherwise.

It includes information you provide when you register to use our site; subscribe to receive information from us; enter a promotion or survey; and when you report a problem with our site. It also includes information you provide when you register a complaint about a Member of PTS

In addition, if you are acting in a business capacity, it may include information you provide if you apply for membership or continuation of membership of PTS or apply to join or to continue membership of PTS.

Information we receive from other sources
Where relevant we may receive personal data from third parties including, for example, business partners; sub-contractors in technical, payment and delivery services; advertising networks; analytics providers; search information providers; credit reference agencies and debt collection and tracing agencies.

Information relating to businesses only
If you are acting in a business capacity, this information will include information required if you apply for membership or continuation of membership of PTS or apply to join or to continue membership of PTS Ltd. In this case we may receive information from persons making an enquiry or complaint; trade and professional bodies; police forces; private investigators; ombudsmen and regulatory authorities; central government. In such cases, the information may also include information such as:

• racial or ethnic origin
• religious or other beliefs of a similar nature
• information about offences and alleged offences
• criminal proceedings, outcomes and sentences
• visual images, personal appearance and behaviour
• financial information
• employment and educational details,
• family, lifestyle and social circumstances.

Information we collect about you.
With regard to each of your visits to our website we will automatically collect the following information:

• technical information, including the Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the Internet, your login information, browser type and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform;
• information about your visit, including the full Uniform Resource Locators (URL), clickstream to, through and from our site (including date and time), products you viewed or searched for, page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs), methods used to browse away from the page, and any phone number used to call our customer service number.

Cookies
Where you consent, we will obtain information about your general internet usage by using a cookie file which is stored on the hard drive of your computer. Cookies contain information that’s transferred to your computer’s hard drive. They help us to improve our site and to deliver a better service and more personalised content. They enable us:

• to estimate our audience size and usage pattern
• to store information about your preferences, and so allow us to customise our site according to your individual interests
• to speed up your searches
• to recognise you when you return to our site.

The table below explains the types of cookies we use and why:

How we will use your personal data

• Depending on the reason for holding your data we will use the information we hold for the following purposes:
• to carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into between you and us and to provide you with the information, products and services that you request from us;
• to provide you with information about goods or services we feel may interest you
• to make suggestions and recommendations to you and other users of our site about goods or services that may interest you or them;
• to allow you to participate in interactive features of our service, when you choose to do so;
• to measure or understand the effectiveness of advertising we serve to you and others, and to deliver relevant advertising to you;
• to notify you about changes to our service;
• where relevant, to provide customer support and assistance services and claims handling services;
• where relevant, to monitor the financial and business affairs and trading practices of Members, prospective Members and other persons connected with the travel industry;
• to administer our site and for internal operations, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, statistical and survey purposes;
• as part of our efforts to keep our site safe and secure.

Who we might share your information with

Where necessary or where we have the right to do so, we will share your personal information with any member of our group of companies

• business partners, suppliers and sub-contractors for the performance of any contract we enter into with them or you or for the provision of services that we agree to provide to you;
  • If we exchange email with you our email system is provided by Microsoft Corporation in the European Union and on behalf of PTS Ltd.
  • If we send you information about PTS products and services, your details are processed by “MailChimp” The Rocket Science Group, in the United States of America on behalf of PTS. MailChimp participates in and has certified its compliance with the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework and the Swiss-U.S Privacy Shield Framework. You can view the MailChimp Privacy Policy on their website.

• analytics and search engine providers that assist us in the improvement and optimisation of our site;
• credit reference agencies for the purpose of assessing your credit score where this is a condition of us entering into a contract with you;
• where relevant to the monitoring of the financial and business affairs and trading practices of Members, prospective Members and other persons connected with the travel industry:
  • central government
  • debt collection and tracing agencies
  • business associates and other professional advisers
  • employees and agents of the data controller
  • persons making an enquiry or complaint
  • trade and professional bodies
  • police forces
  • private investigators
  • ombudsmen and regulatory authorities

We will disclose your personal information to third parties:

• In the event that we sell or buy any business or assets, in which case we will disclose your personal data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets.
• If we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to enforce or apply our terms of use or terms and conditions of supply and other agreements; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of Protected Trust Services Limited, our customers, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

Using your data for marketing purposes
If you are acting in a business capacity we will use your data for legitimate marketing purposes where we believe our services will be of interest to you. You can ask us not to use your personal data for marketing purposes. You can do this by checking certain boxes on the forms we use to collect your data and on any marketing emails we send you. You can also ask us at any time by contacting us.

The basis on which we might use your personal data

We will only use your personal data where one or more of the following apply:

1. You have given your consent to the use (which you can withdraw at any time by notifying us), or
2. It is necessary—

(a) for the performance of a contract between us, or
(b) for the taking of steps at your request with a view to entering into a contract, or

3. It is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation that we must comply with, or
4. It is necessary in order to protect your interests.
5. It is either—

(a) the disclosure of personal data by us as a member of an anti-fraud organisation or otherwise in accordance with any arrangements made by such an organisation; or
(b) any other use by us of personal data,
and it is necessary for the purposes of preventing fraud or a particular kind of fraud.

6. It is necessary for us to pursue our legitimate interests such a marketing our services in the appropriate circumstances for example where you have used our services and have not objected to receiving information about further services of a similar nature

How long will we hold your personal data for?
We will keep your data only for as long as it is necessary for the particular purpose or purposes for which we hold it unless there are any legal or operational reasons to hold it for a longer period. At the end of that period the data that we hold will be securely destroyed.

Your rights in respect of the personal data we hold about you
You can ask to see a copy of the information that we hold about you and for corrections to be made to any incorrect information. We want to be as helpful as possible and, in most cases will provide the information within one month of your request. We do not have to provide information in all cases including where it would involve disclosing information about another person or where a request is excessive or manifestly unfounded and may make a charge for providing the information in some cases.

You have the right to receive the data concerning you in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format and you have the right to transmit those data to another controller.

You can also ask us for following information:

1. the purposes of the processing;
2. the categories of personal data concerned;
3. the recipients or categories of recipient to whom the personal data have been or will be disclosed;
4. where it is possible for us to provide the information, the envisaged period for which the personal data will be stored, or, if not possible, the criteria used to determine that period;
5. where we have not collected the data from you, any available information as to their source.

You can ask us to erase any data that we hold about you where one of the following grounds applies:

1. the personal data are no longer necessary in relation to the purposes for which they were collected or otherwise processed;
2. you withdraw your consent to the processing and there is no other legal ground for the processing;
3. you object to processing on grounds relating to your particular situation and our legitimate grounds for processing do not override your interests;
4. you object to processing for direct marketing purposes;
5. the personal data have been unlawfully processed;
6. the personal data have to be erased for compliance with a legal obligation in Member State law to which we are subject.

We are not required to erase your data where we need to process your data:

1. for exercising the right of freedom of expression and information;
2. for compliance with a legal obligation which requires processing by Member State law to which we are subject or for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in us;
3. for reasons of public interest in the area of public health;
4. for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes so far as the erasure of data is likely to render impossible or seriously impair the achievement of the objectives of that processing; or
5. for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

You can ask us to restrict our processing of your data where one of the following applies:

1. you contest the accuracy of the personal data we hold about you for a period enabling us to verify the accuracy of the personal data;
2. the processing is unlawful and you oppose the erasure of the personal data and request the restriction of their use instead;
3. we no longer need the personal data for the purposes of the processing, but the data are required by you for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims;
4. you object to processing on grounds relating to your particular situation pending the verification of whether our legitimate grounds for processing override your interests.

Where we store your personal data
We will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this privacy notice.

The data that we collect from you may be transferred to and stored at a destination outside the European Economic Area (“EEA”). It may also be processed by staff operating outside the EEA who work for us or for one of our suppliers. This includes staff engaged in, among other things, the fulfilment of your order, the processing of your payment details and the provision of support services.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data and have contractual processes in place with our business partners to do this, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our site. Once we have received your information, we will use relevant procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.

Links from our website
Our site may contain links to and from the websites of PTS partners, and affiliates.  If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites have their own privacy notices and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies.  Please check these policies before you submit any personal data to these websites.

Advice and assistance
Questions, comments and requests regarding this privacy notice are welcomed and should be addressed to the Data Protection Officer, Protected Trust Services LTD, 307 -315 Holdenhurst Road, Bournemouth. Dorset. BH8 8BX.

If you think that there is a problem with the way that we are handling your data, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office. You can call their helpline on 0303 123 1113 or https://ico.org.uk/concerns/

Changes to this privacy notice
We keep our privacy notice under regular review. This privacy notice was last updated on 10th May 2018.