Everything this site stores
One entry we need, and analytics and advert measurement only if you allow it. The one we need is your quote answers, saved in your own browser so you can come back to a part-finished quote. Analytics and advert measurement are off unless you say yes, and you can say no and carry on using the site normally.
What the site stores, in full
This is the complete list. There is nothing underneath it.
| Name | Type | Purpose | Lasts |
|---|---|---|---|
| pf-quote-v4 | Local storage | Your answers so far in the quote tool, so you can close the tab and come back to a part-finished quote. | 7 days |
| pf-consent-analytics-v2 | Local storage | Your yes or no to analytics, so we do not ask again every time you open a page. Set whichever way you answer. | Until you clear it |
| ph_phc_uKSuimGJdrLeieLQg3YKhwkiXjzgVyKhRxvJVtebZWJ3_posthog | Cookie | PostHog. A random identifier that tells one browser apart from another and keeps a visit together, so four pages read by one person are not counted as four people. It holds nothing about who you are. Only set if you said yes. | 1 year |
| ph_phc_uKSuimGJdrLeieLQg3YKhwkiXjzgVyKhRxvJVtebZWJ3_posthog_cpm | Cookie | PostHog. A shorter copy of the same random identifier, which PostHog uses to keep its two records in step. Only set if you said yes. | 1 year |
| ph_phc_uKSuimGJdrLeieLQg3YKhwkiXjzgVyKhRxvJVtebZWJ3_posthog | Local storage | PostHog. The same random identifier, plus the site you arrived from on your first visit. Only set if you said yes. | Until withdrawn |
| ph_phc_uKSuimGJdrLeieLQg3YKhwkiXjzgVyKhRxvJVtebZWJ3_posthog__flags | Local storage | PostHog. Its settings for this site, kept so they are not fetched again on every page. Only set if you said yes. | Until withdrawn |
| ph_phc_uKSuimGJdrLeieLQg3YKhwkiXjzgVyKhRxvJVtebZWJ3_posthog, ph_phc_uKSuimGJdrLeieLQg3YKhwkiXjzgVyKhRxvJVtebZWJ3_window_id, ph_phc_uKSuimGJdrLeieLQg3YKhwkiXjzgVyKhRxvJVtebZWJ3_primary_window_exists, ph_phc_uKSuimGJdrLeieLQg3YKhwkiXjzgVyKhRxvJVtebZWJ3_session_registered_properties | Session storage | PostHog. Keeps track of the current visit and browser tab, so pages read in one sitting count as one visit. Only set if you said yes. | Until the tab closes |
| pf-consent-ads-v2 | Local storage | Your yes or no to advert measurement, so we do not ask again every time you open a page. Set whichever way you answer. | Until you clear it |
| _gcl_au | Cookie | Google Ads. Lets Google link an enquiry or a call from this site to an advert click, so we can see which adverts produce enquiries. Only set if you said yes. | 90 days |
| _gcl_aw | Cookie | Google Ads. Set only when you arrive by clicking one of our adverts, and holds the reference for that click. Only set if you said yes. | 90 days |
If you say yes to advert measurement, Google may also read or set its own cookies on its own domains (google.com and doubleclick.net) when it records that an enquiry came from one of our adverts. Those are governed by Google's cookie policy. Say no and none of this happens.
Our hosting provider records the ordinary server logs that every website generates when a page is requested. That is not storage on your device and it is not a cookie. It is covered in the privacy policy.
A cookie and local storage are not the same thing
The words get used interchangeably, usually by people who would rather you did not look closely. The difference matters here, so it is worth two paragraphs.
Cookies
A cookie is sent back to the server
A cookie is a small file your browser attaches to every request it makes to a site. That is what makes it useful for tracking: the server sees it each time, so it can recognise a returning visitor, and third party cookies let a company recognise you across other websites entirely.
Local storage
Local storage stays on your device
Local storage is a note your browser keeps for one website, in your browser, on your machine. It is never attached to a request and never travels to us. The quote tool reads it back when you return to the page, and that is the only time anything reads it at all.
Both are covered by the same law, the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, which is about storing or accessing information on your device by any means. So the technical distinction does not let anyone off. What matters is the next section.
Why you get asked, and what happens if you say no
Those regulations require your consent before anything is stored on your device, with one exception: where the storage is strictly necessary to provide a service you have explicitly asked for.
Saving your quote answers is that exception, so we do not ask about it. You opened the quote tool and started answering questions, which is about as explicit a request as it gets, and remembering the answers you have already given is what makes the tool work rather than what makes it profitable for us.
Analytics is not that exception. Knowing which pages people read is useful to us, not necessary to you, so it needs your permission and it does not load until you have given it. Not while the banner is on screen, not while you are deciding. If you ignore the banner entirely, nothing loads.
Neither is advert measurement. Knowing which of our Google adverts led to an enquiry or a call is useful to us, not necessary to you, so it needs a yes too. The banner's Choose option lets you allow it separately from analytics, or you can accept or reject everything in one click. The Google tag is not loaded until you give it. If you ignore the banner entirely, nothing loads.
If you say no
- Nothing changesEvery page, the quote tool and the prices work exactly the same. There is no reduced version of this site.
- No cookie is setNone of the analytics or advertising entries in the table above is ever created.
- We remember the noSo you are not asked again on every page. That is the one entry we store either way, and it holds nothing but your answer.
- We count it, without youEvery answer, yes or no, adds one to that day's tally of answers. Nothing that identifies you goes with it and nothing is stored on your device for it.
Changing your mind, either direction
There is a Cookie preferences link at the bottom of every page on this site. It reopens your choices, one switch for each purpose, showing where you currently stand. Turning analytics and advert measurement off there takes effect immediately, and the page reloads to stop anything already running.
Clearing site data in your browser also works and resets the question to unanswered. The quote tool then starts at the first question again, which is the only thing you lose.
What we will not do
Advert measurement covers a narrow thing: whether an enquiry or a call came from one of our Google adverts, so we know which adverts are worth paying for. Here is what it is not, and what we are not doing with it.
- No personalised adverts or remarketingMeasuring whether an advert led to an enquiry is a different thing from following you around the internet with adverts. We do not build a profile of you, we do not show you adverts based on this visit, and Google's personalised advertising is switched off in our configuration, not merely left unused.
- Nothing loads while you decideNeither the Google tag nor PostHog is fetched, parsed or run until you have said yes to its purpose. A banner shown over a tag that is already collecting is not consent, and it is the most common way this is done badly.
- No cookie wallYou can ignore the banner and read the whole site. Nothing is withheld, nothing is degraded, and there is no second prompt trying again on the next page.
- Recordings never show what you typeIf you say yes to analytics, PostHog can record how a page was used: scrolling, clicks and what was on screen, with any page errors and load timings. Every form field is hidden in those recordings, and so are the lines that show your postcode or phone number back to you. If you send us an enquiry, your visit is linked to it so we can see how you found us. The data is held in the EU, and recordings are deleted after 30 days.
- What Google is told about your enquiryIf you said yes to advert measurement and then send us an enquiry or tap to call us, Google is told that it happened, so the advert that brought you here gets the credit. It is not sent your name, email, phone number or anything you typed. Say no and Google is told nothing.
How this page stays true
Every entry in the table above is named from the code that sets it, not typed out separately, so the two cannot drift apart. If the site starts storing something new, this page changes in the same release rather than at some later date when somebody remembers.