Personal information, handled clearly and carefully.

Digital Bull is the trading name of Gavin Watkins, an independent digital consultant covering websites, SEO and digital marketing, based in the UK.

Gavin Watkins, trading as Digital Bull, is the data controller for personal information collected through this website and related business communications. Questions or data protection requests can be sent to hello@thedigitalbull.co.uk.

This notice is written for the UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations. Where the EU GDPR applies to a particular interaction, the relevant EU rights described below also apply.

When someone uses the contact form, Digital Bull receives their name, email address, selected service, any comments entered when selecting ‘Other’, and an optional website address.

A name, email address and service selection are required so Digital Bull can understand and respond to an enquiry. Comments are required only when ‘Other’ is selected. The website address is optional. Without the required information, the form cannot be submitted and Digital Bull cannot respond through this route.

The site also processes limited technical information needed to protect the form, including an IP address supplied by the hosting or proxy layer, request headers, timestamps and a short-lived cryptographic fingerprint used to prevent repeated submissions. Hosting infrastructure may create ordinary security and access logs.

If someone communicates directly or becomes a client, Digital Bull may also hold correspondence, project information, contract details, billing records and any other information they choose to provide.

Please do not send special-category or highly sensitive personal information through the contact form unless it is genuinely necessary and has been agreed in advance.

Digital Bull only uses personal information for clear business purposes and relies on the following lawful bases under Article 6 of the UK GDPR and, where applicable, the EU GDPR.

• To respond to an enquiry and take steps requested before entering a contract — necessary for pre-contractual steps.
• To provide agreed services and manage the client relationship — necessary for a contract.
• To operate, secure and improve the reliability of the website, prevent spam and keep appropriate business correspondence — Digital Bull’s legitimate interests in running and protecting the agency, provided those interests do not override an individual’s rights.
• To retain invoices, transaction records and other information required by tax, accounting or legal rules — necessary to comply with a legal obligation.

Submitting an enquiry does not add anyone to a marketing list. Digital Bull does not sell personal information and does not use contact details for unrelated advertising.

The website does not use automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects.

With a visitor’s consent, the website uses Google Analytics 4 to understand how the site is used, including pages visited, approximate location, device and browser information, and interactions with the site. Google Analytics remains disabled unless ‘Accept analytics’ is selected. The site does not use advertising cookies or social-media pixels.

The browser stores db-cookie-consent-v1 in local storage. It records whether analytics was accepted or rejected and the date and time of that decision. The choice expires after 180 days and can be changed at any time using ‘Cookie settings’ in the footer.

When analytics is accepted, Google may set cookies including _ga and a property-specific _ga cookie to distinguish visits and sessions. Google Analytics information may be processed by Google as a service provider. Consent is the basis for storing or accessing analytics information on a device and for the related processing. Rejecting analytics does not affect access to the website.

After an enquiry email is successfully sent, the server sets db-enquiry-confirmed for up to two minutes. It is a Secure, HTTP-only, SameSite=Strict cookie limited to the thank-you route and is deleted when the confirmation page loads. It prevents the thank-you page displaying without a successful form submission.

The consent preference and enquiry-confirmation cookie support choices or services requested by the visitor. Analytics is used only after consent. Cookie settings can be reopened from the footer.

Personal information is available only where needed to run Digital Bull. It may be processed by website hosting, email, IT, backup and business-administration providers acting on Digital Bull’s instructions, and by professional advisers where necessary.

Information may also be disclosed when required by law, to establish or defend legal rights, or to protect people, systems or the business. Digital Bull does not sell, rent or trade personal information.

The Hereford map is an image and does not load Google Maps. If a visitor chooses the Google Maps link, they leave this site and Google processes the visit under its own privacy terms.

If analytics is accepted, Google receives analytics information as a processor or service provider. Google may process that information on infrastructure outside the UK. Google’s contractual data-transfer safeguards apply where required.

Some service providers may process information outside the UK or European Economic Area. Where data protection law requires safeguards, Digital Bull uses an applicable adequacy decision or approved contractual safeguards, such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or Addendum and EU Standard Contractual Clauses, together with additional protections where required.

Information about the safeguards relevant to a particular transfer can be requested at hello@thedigitalbull.co.uk.

Digital Bull keeps personal information only for as long as needed for the purpose for which it was collected, and then securely deletes or anonymises it.

• Contact-form IP data is used for a rolling 15-minute rate-limit window. It is kept only in volatile server memory and removed during routine cleanup or when the server restarts.
• The duplicate-submission fingerprint is used for a rolling 30-minute window. It is kept only in volatile server memory and removed during routine cleanup or when the server restarts.
• The thank-you confirmation cookie lasts no more than two minutes and is normally deleted sooner.
• The analytics-consent choice is valid for 180 days, is removed on the next visit after expiry, and can be changed earlier through Cookie settings or removed through browser settings. Google Analytics cookie lifetimes are controlled by the analytics configuration and may last up to two years.
• Enquiries that do not become client work are normally deleted within 12 months.
• Client and project correspondence is kept for the relationship and any reasonable period needed to deal with follow-up questions or legal claims.
• Invoices and accounting records are normally kept for six years where UK tax or accounting rules require it.
• Infrastructure logs are retained according to the relevant provider’s security and retention schedule.

Digital Bull uses proportionate technical and organisational measures designed to protect personal information, including encrypted HTTPS connections, restricted access, form validation, abuse controls and secure cookie settings. No internet service can promise absolute security, but suspected incidents are assessed and handled in line with applicable notification duties.

Depending on the circumstances and lawful basis, individuals may have rights to access their personal information, correct it, request deletion, restrict processing, receive portable data and object to processing. Where processing relies on consent, consent can be withdrawn at any time without affecting earlier lawful processing.

Requests can be sent to hello@thedigitalbull.co.uk. Digital Bull may need to confirm identity before acting and normally responds within one month. Rights are not absolute, and the law may permit or require some information to be retained.

Anyone may object at any time to processing based on legitimate interests. Digital Bull will stop that processing unless there are compelling legitimate grounds to continue or the information is needed for legal claims. There is also an absolute right to object to direct marketing; Digital Bull does not currently use enquiry details for direct marketing.

Please contact Digital Bull first so there is an opportunity to resolve the concern.

In the UK, a complaint can be made to the Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF; website ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.

People in the European Economic Area may also complain to the supervisory authority in the country where they live or work, or where they believe an infringement occurred. The European Data Protection Board lists national authorities at edpb.europa.eu/about-edpb/our-members_en.

The website is primarily directed to UK businesses and does not carry out systematic monitoring of people in the EEA. If Digital Bull’s activities change so that an EU representative is legally required, this notice will be updated with the representative’s details before that processing begins.

This notice will be reviewed when the website, service providers or processing activities change. Material changes will be reflected on this page and the last-updated date will be revised.