1. Statement of intent

To use the online ordering facility you will be asked to submit personal information about yourself (e.g. name and email address etc) in order to use services on our website.

By entering your details in the fields requested, you enable PETS EXPRESS to provide you with the services you select. Whenever you provide such personal information, we will treat that information in accordance with this policy. PETS EXPRESS will act in accordance with current legislation and aim to meet current Internet best practice.

2. Information on visitors

During the course of any visit to PETS EXPRESS web site, the pages you see, along with something called a cookie, are downloaded to your computer (see point 3 for more on this). Most, if not all, websites do this, because cookies allow the website publisher to do useful things like find out whether the computer (and probably its user) has visited the site before. This is done on a repeat visit by checking to see, and finding, the cookie left there on the last visit.

Any information that is supplied by cookies can help us to provide you with a better service and assists us to analyse the profile of our visitors. For example: if on a previous visit you went to, say, the hutches page, then we might find this out from your cookie and highlight hutch products on a second visit.

3. What is a cookie?

When you enter a site your computer will automatically be issued with a cookie. Cookies are text files that identify your computer to our server. Cookies in themselves do not identify the individual user, just the computer used. Many sites do this whenever a user visits their site in order to track traffic flows.

Cookies themselves only record those areas of the site that have been visited by the computer in question, and for how long. Users have the opportunity to set their computers to accept all cookies, to notify them when a cookie is issued, or not to receive cookies at any time. The last of these, of course, means that certain personalised services cannot then be provided to that user.

NB: Even if you havent set your computer to reject cookies you can still browse our site anonymously until such time as you require the online ordering facility.

4. Use and storage of your personal information

When you supply any personal information to PETS EXPRESS we have legal obligations towards you in the way we deal with that data. We must collect the information fairly, that is, we must explain how we will use it (see this privacy policy). Any information you provide to PETS EXPRESS will only be used within PETS EXPRESS. It will never be supplied to anyone outside PETS EXPRESS unless we are obliged by law to disclose it.

We will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as you use the service you have requested, and remove it in the event that the purpose has been met. We will ensure that all personal information supplied is held securely, in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.

5. Access to your personal information

You have the right to request a copy of the personal information PETS EXPRESS holds about you and to have any inaccuracies corrected. (We charge £10 for information requests.) (Email: enquiries@petsexpress.org.uk).

6. Users 16 and under

If you are aged 16 or under, please get your parent/guardians permission beforehand whenever you provide personal information to PETS EXPRESS website. Users without this consent are not allowed to provide us with personal information.

7. How to find and control your cookies

If youre using Netscape 6.0:

On your Task Bar, click:

Edit, then

Preferences

Click on Advanced

Click on Cookies

If youre using Internet Explorer 6.0:

Choose Tools, then

Internet Options

Click the Privacy Tab

Click on Custom Level

Click on the Advanced button

Check the override automatic cookie handing box and select Accept, Block or Prompt for action as appropriate.

If youre using Internet Explorer 5.0 or 5.5:

Choose Tools, then

Internet Options

Click the Security tab

Click on Custom Level

Scroll down to the sixth option to see how cookies are handled by IE5 and change to Accept, Disable, or Prompt for action as appropriate.

If youre using Internet Explorer 4.0:

Choose View, then

Internet Options

Click the Advanced tab

Scroll down to the yellow exclamation icon under Security and choose one of the three options to regulate your use of cookies.

In Internet Explorer 3.0:

You can View, Options, Advanced, then click on the button that says Warn before Accepting Cookies.

If youre using Netscape Communicator 4.0:

On your Task Bar, click:

Edit, then

Preferences

Click on Advanced

Set your options in the box that says Cookies.

8. How do you know which of the sites youve visited use cookies?

If youre using Netscape 6.0:

On your Task Bar, click:

Edit, then

Preferences

Click on Advanced

Click on Cookies

Click the View Cookies button

If youre using Internet Explorer 5.0 or 6.0:

Choose Tools, then

Internet Options

Click the General tab

Click Settings

View Files

If youre using Internet Explorer 4.0:

On your Task Bar, click:

View, then

Internet Options

Under the tab General (the default tab) click

Settings

View Files.

Internet Explorer 3.0:

On your Task Bar, click:

View

Options

Advanced

View Files.

Netscape Communicator 4.0:

Netscape bundles all cookies into one file on your hard drive. Youll need to find the file, which it calls Cookie.txt on Windows machines.

9. How to see your cookie code

Just click on a cookie to open it. Youll see a short string of text and numbers. The numbers are your identification card, which can only be seen by the server that gave you the cookie.