Cookie Policy
What is a cookie?
A cookie is a small file consisting of letters and numbers that is downloaded onto your computer or device when visiting a website. Cookies are used by many websites and can do a number of things e.g. remembering your preferences, remembering what you have put in your shopping basket, and counting the number of people looking at a website at any given time.
By accessing this website, you agree that we can place cookies on your device. You can disable cookies completely by changing your browser settings (see “Managing Cookies” below) however some areas of the site will not be accessible or may not function properly.
Cookie uses
Most websites use cookies but not all use them for the same purpose. The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) categorises cookies into four main groups. Below is a guide to the different types of cookies and how we use them.
Strictly necessary cookies
These are essential for you to move around the website and use its features. Without these cookies, services you have asked for cannot be provided, including gaining access to secure areas of website. ‘Strictly necessary’ cookies will not be used to gather information about you that could be used for marketing, or remember where you’ve been on the internet.
We use these cookies for, but not limited to;
- Remembering the information you have entered on forms so that you do not have to re-enter these details if you go back to a previous page
- Identifying you as being securely logged on to online banking.
Performance cookies
Performance cookies collect information about how visitors use a website. These cookies do not collect information that can identify a user of the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. The information collected is only used to improve the performance of the site.
We use performance cookies for:
- Providing statistics about how people use our site, e.g. the number of visitors to a page
- Identifying any errors that occur so that we can improve our website
- Testing different designs of our website.
Functionality cookies
Functionality cookies allow the website to remember the choices you make (such as your username, language, or the region you are in) and provide enhanced, more personalised features. For example a news website may use functionality cookies to store your location and provide you with the most up to date local news.
Functionality cookies are used for:
- Remembering the font size you set on some of our application forms.
Targeting and advertising cookies
Targeting and advertising cookies are used to deliver adverts more relevant to you and your interests. They are also used to limit the number of times you see an advertisement as well as help measure the effectiveness of the advertising campaign. They are usually placed by advertising networks with the website operator’s permission. Targeting and advertising cookies remember that you have visited a website and share this information with other organisations such as advertisers.
We use advertising on other websites to bring visitors to our site. We use cookies provided by a number of sites to track the number of visitors from advertisements to see how successful they have been.
Cookie types
We use three types of cookies on our website. These cookies are:
1. Session cookies
Session cookies are only active during the time you are using the website. As soon as you leave the site, they are deleted from your device or browser cache memory. Typically, we use these cookies for completing forms.
When you enter details on a form, a cookie will be used to store that information. If you then go back to a previous page, the cookie will remember the data you have entered so that you don’t have to enter this again.
2. Persistent cookies
These are cookies that will remain on your device after you have left the site or closed your web browser. They are typically used to remember settings.
3. Third party cookies
We have carefully selected other companies to work with in order to give the best service to our customers. Like most websites, we use third party companies to provide analytics software. We use these as they are able to provide specialist software that allows for a deeper insight.
These companies deploy cookies to provide us with information about how people use our site. This information is completely anonymous and is only used to make improvements to our website.
Some third party tools will have a policy to use first-party cookies on client sites for one or more of the following purposes: to help identify visitors; assess usage patterns and perform traffic analysis; identify preferences; diagnose problems with our servers; analyse trends; and otherwise administer their products and services.
Managing cookies
Most web browsers allow control of selected cookies through the browser settings. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit www.aboutcookies.org and select the “Manage Cookies” tab.
To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites visit https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
Cookies on our website
How we use cookies
Like many websites we use cookies to store and then retrieve small bits of information on your computer when you visit. This information is used to make the site work as you expect it to. It is not personally identifiable to you, but it can be used to give you a more personalised web experience.
Some of the information we store is provided by other companies whose software we use on our site. The information we collect can also impact your experience of other websites you may visit after leaving ours, as a result of third party cookie sharing.
If you continue to use this site without taking action to prevent the storage of this information, you are effectively agreeing to this use.
Please visit Cookiepedia if you want to know exactly what cookies are used on this, or any other website. To use Cookiepedia, type the URL into the search bar on the Cookiepedia website.
Similar technologies – Embedded weblinks:
Cookies are the most well-known form of online tracking, but there are other ways that we can track the browsing behaviour of a user. This includes ‘embedded weblinks’ which are small objects or weblinks that are embedded into a page or an email.
Marketing and service emails from Bedford Lock & Key contain embedded weblinks which are then used to tell us how you have interacted with an email we have sent you. If you have given consent for marketing emails, you are effectively agreeing to the use of these embedded weblinks.
