Privacy Policy

1Information We Collect

The information we collect depends upon how you interact with Takeaway Scout™.

Information you provide directly

We may collect:

• your name;
• email address;
• telephone number;
• account information;
• login and authentication information;
• correspondence with us;
• information submitted through forms;
• location or area information;
• preferences;
• reviews, ratings and comments;
• photographs or other content you submit;
• reports or complaints concerning listings or reviews; and
• other information you choose to provide.

Business and takeaway information

If you own, operate or represent a takeaway business, we may collect:

• your name and contact details;
• business name;
• business address;
• telephone number;
• email address;
• website and social-media information;
• business category and cuisine information;
• opening hours;
• menu information;
• delivery and collection information;
• photographs;
• information used to verify that you are authorised to represent the business;
• information submitted when claiming or managing a listing;
• subscription or advertising information;
• correspondence with Takeaway Scout™; and
• other information supplied in connection with your business profile.

Some business information displayed by Takeaway Scout™ may be obtained from publicly available sources or other lawful sources and may not constitute personal information where it relates solely to a company or other legal entity.

Where business information identifies an individual, UK data-protection law may apply.

2Information Collected Automatically

When you use Takeaway Scout™, we may automatically collect technical and usage information including:

• IP address;
• browser type and version;
• device type;
• operating system;
• pages viewed;
• searches performed;
• approximate location derived from technical information;
• referring website;
• date and time of access;
• Website interactions;
• session information;
• cookie identifiers; and
• other technical information concerning use of the Website.

This information may be used to operate, secure, analyse and improve Takeaway Scout™.

Further information about cookies and similar technologies is provided in our Cookie Policy.

3Reviews, Ratings and User-Generated Content

Where Takeaway Scout™ allows users to submit reviews, ratings, photographs, comments or other content, we process the information submitted in order to operate the review and rating service.

Information associated with a review may include:

• account information;
• reviewer display name;
• rating;
• review text;
• photographs;
• date and time of submission;
• business reviewed;
• technical information associated with the submission; and
• information used to help identify suspicious, fraudulent or manipulated reviews.

Reviews and ratings are intended for publication. You should therefore not include unnecessary personal information about yourself or another person in a public review.

Takeaway Scout™ may moderate, investigate, restrict or remove content in accordance with our Terms & Conditions and review policies.

We may retain appropriate information relating to removed reviews where reasonably necessary to prevent fraud, abuse or repeated breaches of our policies.

4Business Listings and Claimed Profiles

Takeaway Scout™ may create and maintain listings for takeaway businesses.

A business does not necessarily need to be a paying customer of Takeaway Scout™ to appear in the directory.

Information used to create or maintain listings may come from:

• the business;
• authorised business representatives;
• Website users;
• publicly available information;
• publicly accessible business websites or social-media pages;
• other lawful data sources; and
• information generated or verified by Takeaway Scout™.

Businesses may be provided with facilities to claim or manage listings.

We may request information reasonably necessary to verify that a person is authorised to represent a business before granting access to management features.

5Scout Scores and Rankings

Takeaway Scout™ may use information relating to takeaway businesses to calculate, maintain and display Scout Scores, rankings, ratings and other assessments.

Depending upon the methodology in use, this may involve processing business information, publicly available information, review information and other relevant data.

Where such information constitutes personal data, it will be processed in accordance with applicable data-protection law.

Scout Scores and rankings primarily concern takeaway businesses rather than individuals and are governed separately by our Website Terms & Conditions and any applicable scoring or ranking policies.

6Payments and Subscriptions

Takeaway Scout™ may offer paid products and services to takeaway businesses, including enhanced profiles, subscriptions, advertising, featured placements or other commercial services.

Payments may be processed by a third-party payment provider such as Stripe.

The payment provider may collect card or payment information directly.

Brecon Take Aways Limited may receive information including:

• transaction amount;
• payment status;
• transaction reference;
• subscription status;
• billing information; and
• limited information concerning the payment method.

We do not necessarily receive or store complete card details.

7How We Use Personal Information

We may use personal information to:

• operate Takeaway Scout™;
• provide search and directory services;
• create and administer user accounts;
• publish and administer reviews and ratings;
• operate business profiles;
• verify claimed business listings;
• communicate with users and businesses;
• process subscriptions and payments;
• provide paid business services;
• administer advertising and promotional products;
• respond to enquiries;
• investigate complaints;
• correct inaccurate listing information;
• detect and prevent fake reviews and ranking manipulation;
• detect and prevent fraud and misuse;
• maintain Website and account security;
• analyse Website performance and usage;
• improve Takeaway Scout™ and its services;
• maintain appropriate business and transaction records;
• establish, exercise or defend legal claims; and
• comply with legal and regulatory obligations.

8Lawful Bases for Processing

Depending upon the circumstances, we may rely upon one or more lawful bases under UK data-protection law.

Contract — where processing is necessary to provide a service you have requested or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract. This may apply to accounts, subscriptions and paid business services.

Legitimate interests — where processing is necessary for our legitimate interests or those of another person and those interests are not overridden by your rights and interests.

Our legitimate interests may include:

• operating a useful takeaway directory;
• maintaining accurate business information;
• operating ratings and reviews;
• producing rankings and Scout Scores;
• preventing fake reviews and manipulation;
• protecting Website security;
• preventing fraud;
• responding to enquiries and complaints; and
• developing and improving Takeaway Scout™.

Legal obligation — where processing is necessary to comply with applicable law.

Consent — where we specifically request your consent, including for certain marketing activities or non-essential cookies where required.

Where we rely upon consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

9Marketing Communications

Takeaway Scout™ may provide users and businesses with the opportunity to receive marketing communications concerning our products, services, promotions or relevant developments.

Where consent is required, we will only send electronic marketing communications after obtaining the appropriate consent.

In some circumstances, applicable law may permit marketing communications on another lawful basis.

You can unsubscribe from marketing communications at any time using the unsubscribe facility provided or by contacting us.

Opting out of marketing does not prevent us from sending necessary communications concerning your account, listing, subscription, payment or another service you use.

10Cookies and Similar Technologies

Takeaway Scout™ may use cookies and similar technologies for purposes including:

• providing essential Website functionality;
• maintaining sessions and accounts;
• remembering preferences;
• maintaining security;
• preventing fraud;
• understanding Website usage;
• measuring Website performance;
• analytics; and
• advertising or marketing where applicable.

Where required by law, non-essential cookies will only be used after appropriate consent has been obtained.

Further information is contained in our Cookie Policy.

11Who We Share Personal Information With

We may share personal information where reasonably necessary to operate Takeaway Scout™, provide requested services or comply with legal obligations.

Recipients may include:

Website, hosting and technology providers

Providers that help us host, secure, maintain and operate Takeaway Scout™.

Payment providers

Payment providers may process information required to administer payments, subscriptions and fraud prevention.

Email and communications providers

Providers may process information necessary to deliver transactional or marketing communications.

Analytics and Website service providers

Where applicable and subject to appropriate cookie and data-protection requirements.

Takeaway businesses

Where reasonably necessary in connection with a review, enquiry, complaint, listing or another Takeaway Scout™ feature.

We will not unnecessarily disclose a reviewer's private contact information merely because a business requests it.

Professional advisers

We may disclose information to solicitors, accountants, insurers and other professional advisers where reasonably necessary.

Regulators, courts and authorities

Information may be disclosed where required by law or reasonably necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal rights.

We do not sell your personal information.

12Public Information

Takeaway Scout™ is a public directory.

Certain information submitted to the Website is therefore intended to be publicly visible.

This may include:

• reviewer display names;
• reviews and ratings;
• photographs submitted for publication;
• takeaway business information;
• business responses to reviews; and
• other content clearly intended for public display.

Before submitting public content, you should consider whether it contains information you wish to make publicly available.

Private account information such as your email address, telephone number or payment details will not normally be displayed publicly unless you have deliberately provided that information for publication or there is another lawful reason to do so.

13Fraud, Fake Reviews and Platform Integrity

We may process account, review, business and technical information where reasonably necessary to identify or investigate:

• fake reviews;
• coordinated review manipulation;
• duplicate accounts;
• fraudulent business claims;
• misuse of promotional services;
• attempts to manipulate Scout Scores or rankings;
• spam;
• security threats; and
• other breaches of our Terms or policies.

This may include comparing information associated with accounts, devices, network activity, submissions and business relationships.

Where appropriate, we may restrict accounts, remove content or retain relevant records to prevent repeated misuse.

14How Long We Keep Personal Information

We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected and to satisfy applicable legal, accounting, operational and regulatory requirements.

Retention periods may include:

User account information: while the account remains active and for an appropriate period afterwards.

Published reviews and ratings: while relevant to the directory or until removed in accordance with our policies, subject to retention of limited records where reasonably necessary for fraud prevention, disputes or legal purposes.

Business listing information: while the business remains relevant to the directory and for an appropriate period thereafter where necessary.

Business account information: while the account or commercial relationship remains active and for an appropriate period afterwards.

Financial and accounting records: normally up to 6 years or such other period as applicable tax and accounting requirements require.

Complaints and disputes: for an appropriate period having regard to the nature of the matter and applicable legal requirements.

Website and security logs: for an appropriate period having regard to operational, security and fraud-prevention requirements.

Information may also be anonymised so that it no longer identifies an individual. Anonymised information may be retained for statistical and analytical purposes.

15How We Protect Personal Information

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures designed to protect personal information.

These may include:

• encrypted Website connections;
• secure systems and service providers;
• access controls;
• authentication measures;
• data minimisation;
• account-security measures;
• limiting access to authorised persons;
• security monitoring; and
• appropriate review of our systems and practices.

No electronic system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, but we take reasonable measures appropriate to the nature of the information being processed.

16Your Data Protection Rights

Depending upon the circumstances, you may have rights under UK data-protection law including the right to:

• request access to your personal information;
• request correction of inaccurate information;
• request deletion in certain circumstances;
• request restriction of processing;
• object to certain processing;
• request portability of certain information;
• withdraw consent where processing relies upon consent; and
• complain to the Information Commissioner's Office.

These rights are not absolute and may be subject to legal exceptions.

For example, requesting deletion of your personal information does not necessarily require Takeaway Scout™ to remove factual information about an independent business merely because you are associated with that business.

To exercise your rights, contact:

admin@takeawayscout.co.uk

We will respond without undue delay and normally within one month, subject to any lawful extension permitted by data-protection law.

17Business Information and Correction Requests

Businesses may contact us if they believe information displayed in their listing is inaccurate.

We may request reasonable evidence to verify a correction or establish that the person making the request is authorised to represent the business.

A data-protection request concerning personal information is different from a request to change an independent Scout Score, ranking or review.

Exercising data-protection rights does not automatically entitle a business to alter an independently calculated ranking or remove lawful information that does not constitute the requester's personal data.

18Children

Takeaway Scout™ is not intended to collect personal information from children where this is unnecessary for the operation of the service.

Where user accounts or review facilities are provided, we may establish appropriate minimum-age requirements and safeguards.

We do not knowingly seek to collect personal information from young children.

19International Transfers

Some service providers used to operate Takeaway Scout™ may process or store personal information outside the United Kingdom.

Where personal information is transferred internationally, Brecon Take Aways Limited will take appropriate steps to ensure that the transfer complies with applicable UK data-protection law.

Depending upon the circumstances, safeguards may include UK adequacy regulations or appropriate contractual safeguards.

20Third-Party Websites and Services

Takeaway Scout™ may contain links to independent:

• takeaway websites;
• online ordering platforms;
• delivery services;
• social-media services;
• payment providers; and
• other websites.

Those organisations are responsible for their own privacy practices where they independently process personal information.

This Privacy Policy does not govern information you provide directly to an independent third-party service.

You should review the relevant third party's privacy information before providing personal information.

21Other Brecon Take Aways Limited Brands

Brecon Take Aways Limited may operate other brands and services, including Brecon Takeaways and Countryside Eats™.

Those services may have their own privacy notices explaining the particular processing associated with them.

Where information needs to be shared between services operated by Brecon Take Aways Limited, it will remain subject to applicable data-protection law and will only be used for appropriate purposes.

The use of separate brand-specific privacy notices does not alter the identity of Brecon Take Aways Limited as the legal entity responsible for processing where it determines the purposes and means of that processing.

22Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to Takeaway Scout™, our technology, commercial services, service providers or legal obligations.

The latest version will be published on the Website together with the date it was last updated.

23Contact Us

For questions, requests or concerns concerning this Privacy Policy or the way Takeaway Scout™ handles personal information, contact:

Takeaway Scout™

A trading name of Brecon Take Aways Limited

Email: admin@takeawayscout.co.uk

Registered office:

21 Bryn de Winton

Brecon

Powys

LD3 9HL

Company number: 17052659

ICO registration number: ZC099121