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Prize-draw privacy notice

This notice explains how VG Digital Solutions Limited uses personal information collected for the Trade Website Prize Draw. It applies to online entries and postal entries. It is given to you before you enter, as required by the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.

The company’s general privacy policy is at vgdigitalsolutions.com/privacy-policy. If that policy and this notice say different things about the prize draw, this notice applies to the prize draw.

Who is responsible

The controller is VG Digital Solutions Limited, company number 17195224, The Stamp Exchange, Westgate Road, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 1SA. For privacy questions about the draw, email info@vgdigitalsolutions.com or call 0191 922 2952.

What we collect

• your name, business name, mobile number, email address, trade and main working area;
• a website or Facebook page, if you choose to give one;
• whether you ticked the optional marketing box, and the date and time of the entry;
• for an online entry, the IP address and basic technical record created when the form is submitted;
• if you win, the further business information you send so the website can be built.

You do not have to give this information. If the required entry details are missing, we cannot enter you. The marketing box is optional. Leaving it blank does not affect your chance of winning.

Why we use it

We use entries to run the draw, remove duplicates, check that an entry is eligible, contact the winner, deliver the prize, and keep a record of how and when the winner was chosen. The lawful basis is our legitimate interest in running a fair promotion and being able to show the result. For the winner, we also use the information because it is needed to provide the prize.

We may email or text you a service message about this draw, for example to say that you have won. That message is part of the promotion. It is not marketing, and it does not depend on the optional tick.

We email or text you about trade websites and being found on Google only if you ticked the optional box. The lawful basis for that marketing is your consent. Under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, that consent is separate from entering the draw. The tick does not allow us to make marketing phone calls. You can withdraw consent at any time by using the unsubscribe link or by emailing info@vgdigitalsolutions.com. Withdrawal does not affect your entry.

We may keep winner records where we need them for tax, accounting, or to deal with a legal claim.

Who receives it

Entries are stored in MailerLite, our email platform. For our UK account, MailerLite Limited in Ireland processes subscriber information as our processor, and the entry data is stored in the European Union. The UK recognises the EU as providing an adequate level of protection for personal information. People at VG Digital Solutions who are running the draw can also see the entries.

We do not sell entries. We do not pass them to Facebook, Meta or Google for this promotion. Google receives business information only if you win and we set up or optimise your Google Business Profile as part of the prize.

How long we keep it

Entries that do not win are kept for 24 months after the closing date, so we can show who entered and how the winner was chosen. They are then deleted, unless a complaint or legal claim means we need to keep them longer.

The winner’s record is kept for the delivery of the prize and for 6 years after the free 12-month hosting period ends, for the contract and for accounting.

If you consented to marketing, we keep that record until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete it. We may keep a short suppression note so that we do not contact you again by mistake.

The draw itself

The winner is chosen at random from the valid entries. The choice is not based on a profile of your interests or behaviour.

Your rights

You can ask us for a copy of your information, to correct it, to delete it, to restrict how it is used, or to object to our use of it. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw that consent. Where we rely on legitimate interests, you can object and we will stop unless we have a compelling reason to continue, or we need the information for a legal claim.

To use these rights, email info@vgdigitalsolutions.com. We may need to confirm it is you. If you are unhappy, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF, at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113. We would like the chance to put it right first.