Cookie Policy
Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience and get the most of your time online when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site. By logging a short text file, the cookie allows the website to “remember” the user the next time they visit the site, making it easier to access the information they require.
By continuing to browse and use the site (and failing to block and/or delete cookies using the methods explained below), you are agreeing to our use of cookies and to the storage of cookies on your device.
A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your computer if you agree. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer’s hard drive.
We use the following cookies:
• Strictly necessary cookies. These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our website, use a shopping cart or make use of e-billing services.
• Analytical/performance cookies. They allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.
A ‘session cookie’ will expire at the end of your browsing session once you close your web browser; ‘persistent cookies’ on the other hand have a set expiry date and will be stored on your computer until either this date is reached, or you delete your cookies using your browser settings.
COOKIES WE USE
You can find more information about the individual cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them in the table below:
| Cookie | Purpose |
| _ga | Used by Google Analytics to distinguish users. |
| _gat | Used by Google Analytics to throttle request rate. |
| _gid | Used by Google Analytics to store and update a unique value for each page visited. |
| ASP.NET_SessionId | Used to maintain an anonymised user session by the server. |
| __RequestVerificationToken | This is an anti-forgery cookie. It is designed to stop unauthorised posting of content to a website, known as Cross-Site Request Forgery. It holds no information about the user and is destroyed on closing the browser. |
| yourAuthCookie | This is used to keep you logged in once you have logged in. This cookie is essential to the functionality of the site |
THIRD-PARTY COOKIES
Please note that third parties (including, for example, advertising networks and providers of external services like web traffic analysis services) may also use cookies, over which we have no control. These cookies are likely to be analytical/performance cookies or targeting cookies. You should check the privacy policy of the relevant website for more information.
BLOCKING COOKIES
The majority of web browsers (Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Opera, Safari etc.) will allow you to block or delete cookies from being installed on your device via your browser settings.
Depending on your browser, further information can be obtained via the following links:
• Firefox – http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/Cookies
• Internet Explorer – http://support.microsoft.com/kb/196955
• Google Chrome- http://support.google.com/chrome/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=95647
• Safari – http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Safari/3.0/en/9277.html
• Opera – http://www.opera.com/browser/tutorials/security/privacy/
Mobile phone users may have to refer to their handset manual for details on how to block cookies using their mobile browser.
On the whole, cookies are quite harmless as they contain only anonymous strings of text. Some people, however, are uncomfortable at the thought of external websites being able to store data on their devices or pass it to third parties for advertising purposes. The good news is that it is relatively simple to block and delete cookies via a computer or mobile device’s control panel – the down side of this being that functionality will be impaired across a great many websites.
For more information on cookies and how they work, please visit www.allaboutcookies.org.