Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy Notice

Your privacy is important and in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and UK Data Protection Act, we are keen to be transparent in what data we collect about you and how we use it. This privacy statement explains who we are, what personal data thomsonlocal collects from you through our interactions with you and through our websites. It explains how we use that data and why we are allowed to by law.

Data We Collect and Process

IP Addresses & System Administration

We may collect information about your computer, including where available your IP address, operating system, and browser type, for system administration and to report aggregate information to our partners, sponsors, or advertisers. This is statistical data in aggregated form about our users' browsing actions and patterns, and will not allow our partners, sponsors, or advertisers to identify you from such data.

Use of Cookies

Cookies are small, unique strings of code stored on your computer to improve your use of our sites and to help us improve functionality and security. We use both session cookies (which expire when you close your browser) and persistent cookies (which remain on your computer until you remove them).

Where We Store Your Personal Data

We store all information about you on secure, firewalled servers. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password which enables you to access certain parts of our site, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone.

• Data may be transferred to, and stored at, a destination outside the United Kingdom and the European Economic Area ('EEA').
• It may also be processed by staff operating outside the UK or the EEA who work for us or for one of our suppliers.
• We take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that any personal data transferred outside the UK/EEA is treated securely and under adequacy regulations or standard contractual clauses.

Legal Basis to Process Your Personal Data

Under applicable UK GDPR laws, we rely on the following lawful grounds for processing:

• Legitimate Interests — processing business contact details for commercial directory listings and local discovery where balanced against individual fundamental rights.
• Contractual Necessity — processing information required to deliver advertising services, billing, and order fulfilment.
• Consent — where you have explicitly opted into specific marketing channels, which you may withdraw at any time.
• Legal Obligation — complying with regulatory, accounting, tax, or anti-fraud requirements.

Uses Made of the Information

We use information held about you in the following ways:

• Promoting your business so that it can be found when searched via mapping, search engines, and online directories.
• Delivering client marketing campaigns and providing business-to-business directories.
• Fulfilling contractual obligations arising from orders entered into between you and us.
• Trace verification and identity validation for anti-money laundering, crime prevention, and fraud detection.
• Notifying you about changes to our digital products, services, and platform updates.

Third-Party Data Sharing

We may share verified business data with vetted B2B service providers, advertising partners, credit reference agencies, debt collection specialists, and research organisations to ensure your business remains visible across national directories and search engines.

Data Retention

We collect and store personal data for the purpose of our active business database. We retain your personal data for as long as it is associated with an active trading business in our database. We verify our records periodically and promptly remove data for businesses that have ceased trading.

Your Data Protection Rights

Under UK data protection law, you have specific rights concerning your personal data:

• Right of Access — request confirmation and copies of personal data we hold about you.
• Right to Rectification — request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Right to Erasure ('Right to be Forgotten') — request deletion or suppression of your personal data.
• Right to Restriction — request suspension of processing during disputes.
• Right to Object — object to direct marketing or processing under legitimate interest grounds.
• Right to Data Portability — request transfer of your data to another organisation.

To exercise any of these rights, email our Data Protection Team at dpo@thomsonlocal.com. We may require proof of identity to protect your information.

Contact & Data Protection Officer

If you have any questions, comments, or complaints regarding this privacy policy or our data compliance, please contact our Data Protection Team at dpo@thomsonlocal.com or call 03330 145 045. You also have the right to contact the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at 0303 123 1113 or via www.ico.org.uk.