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Privacy Policy

This privacy policy tells you what to expect when SMS Group collects personal information that you provide to us.  

Visitors to our websites 

When someone visits www.southamptonmarineservices.com  we use a third-party service, Google Analytics, to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns.  

We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. This information is only processed in a way that does not identify anyone. We do not make, and do not allow Google to make, any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our website. If we do want to collect personally identifiable information through our website, we will be up front about this. We will make it clear when we collect personal information and will explain what we intend to do with it. 

Search Engines 

Search queries and results are logged anonymously to help us improve our website and search functionality. No user-specific data is collected by either SMS Group or any third party. 

Email Marketing 

We use a third-party provider, iContact, to deliver our email marketing. We gather statistics around email opening and clicks using industry standard technologies including clear gifs to help us monitor and improve our e-marketing activity. For more information, please see iContact’s privacy notice. 

Cookies

This website uses cookies. By using this website and agreeing to this policy, you consent to SMS Group’ use of cookies in accordance with the terms of this policy. 

Cookies are files sent by web servers to web browsers and stored by the web browsers. 

The information is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server. This enables a web server to identify and track web browsers. 

There are two main kinds of cookies: session cookies and persistent cookies. Session cookies are deleted from your computer when you close your browser, whereas persistent cookies remain stored on your computer until deleted, or until they reach their expiry date. 

We use the following cookies on this website, for the following purposes: 

  • Make login faster to our website by remembering your login details 
  • Make the page load quicker by sharing the workload across computers 
  • Ensure our website pages are optimised for your browser or device by giving us technical information about the device or browser you are using Google cookies 
Cookie Name ( Expiry ) Purpose
Preference cookies wfvt_# ( Expiry: 30 minutes) These cookies are used to remember your preferences.
Security cookies wordfence_verifiedHuman ( Expiry: 24 hours ) These cookies necessary and are used to keep this website secure. It collects your IP address to monitor activity in order to prevent access to any malicious IP addresses.
Google Analytics _ga ( Expiry: 2 years )
_gat ( Expiry: 1 minute )
_gid ( Expiry: 24 hours )
Collect ( Expiry: session )

These cookies are used to collect information about how you use our website. The information collected includes number of visitors, pages visited and time spent on the website. The information is collected by Google Analytics an aggregated and anonymous form, and we use the data to help us make improvements to the website. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.

Click here for more information about Google Analytics and your privacy.

Analytical cookies p.gif ( Expiry: session ) Analytical cookies help us to improve our website by collecting and reporting information on its usage so that we can continue to produce engaging content. These cookies may track things such as how long you spend on the site or pages you visit which helps us to understand how we can improve the site for you.
Marketing cookies NID ( Expiry: 6 months )
ads/ga-audiences ( Expiry: session )
These cookies are used by Google to show you relevant and engaging ads.

Our cookie banner is provided by WordPress Cookie Plugin to comply with the GDPR & ePrivacy (borlabs.io)

Disabling cookies

You can manage your cookie settings by clicking the icon in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. You can also prevent the use of cookies by adjusting your browser settings.

Please be aware that some cookies are necessary for the website to function properly. If you disable these cookies in your browser, parts of the website may not work correctly. For more information about cookies, visit https://www.allaboutcookies.org/

Analytics

Our website uses Google Analytics to collect data and statistics about how our website is used e.g which pages our visited. This information is anonymous.

Third party links

This Privacy Policy only applies to this website, sms-marine.co.uk. This website may include links to third party websites, plugins and applications. We do not control these third party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements and how they use your data. Third parties include Google Analytics and Google Fonts – Roboto.

Security & Performance  

We use a third-party service to help maintain the security and performance of the SMS Group website. To deliver this service, it processes the IP addresses of visitors to the website. 

Contact Forms  

Should you choose to contact us using a contact form on our website or an email link, the data will be collated into an email and sent to us over the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). We use a third party service which encrypts the email content using SHA-2, 256-bit cryptography before being sent across the internet. The email content is then decrypted by our local computers and devices. 

Social Media 

If you send us a private or direct message via social media the message will be stored within our password protected account. It will not be shared with any other organisations. 

Emails 

We use a third party provider to encrypt and protect our email traffic. If your email service does not support TLS, you should be aware that any emails we send or receive may not be protected in transit. 

We will also monitor any emails sent to us, including file attachments, for viruses or malicious software. Please be aware that you have a responsibility to ensure that any email you send is within the bounds of the law. 

Access to Personal Information 

SMS Group tries to be as open as it can be in terms of giving people access to their personal information. Individuals can find out if we hold any personal information by making a ‘subject access request’. If we do hold information about you, we will: 

  • give you a description of it; 
  • tell you why we are holding it; 
  • tell you who it could be disclosed to; and 
  • let you have a copy of the information in an intelligible form. 

To make a request to SMS Group for any personal information we may hold, you need to put the request in writing addressing it to the address provided below. 

If you agree, we will try to deal with your request informally, for example by providing you with the specific information you need over the telephone. 

If we do hold information about you, you can ask us to correct any mistakes by, once again, contacting us via the address below. 

Links to other websites 

This privacy policy does not cover the links within this site linking to other websites. We encourage you to read the privacy statements on the other websites you visit. 

Changes to this privacy notice 

We keep our privacy notice under regular review. This privacy notice was last updated on 02 May 2023

How to contact us 

If you want to request information about our privacy policy, you can email us or write to:

SMS Group,
Unit 1, Ocean Quay,
Belvidere Road,
Southampton,
Hampshire,
SO14 5QY,
UK