Who is responsible
The Borehole Drilling Directory operates Borehole Drilling UK and is responsible for the personal information it processes for this directory. This notice covers visitors, people making enquiries and individuals whose business contact information appears in a listing.
For privacy questions or requests, email [email protected] and identify the information or page concerned.
Information we handle
- Enquiries and corrections: the name, email address, optional telephone number, subject and message you provide through an available contact channel, together with subsequent correspondence.
- Company suggestions: business name, website, location, services, your relationship to the company and any contact details or supporting information you supply.
- Public listings: published business information, which can include personal information where a sole trader's name, business address or direct business contact details identify an individual.
- Website requests: technical information sent to hosting and other services, such as an IP address, requested URL, request time, browser information and error or security information.
- Feature interactions: search queries and filters, optional browser location for nearby results, and delivery or interaction events for sponsored placements where those features are active.
Listing information may come from business submissions and publicly available business sources, including company websites. A business contact can request information about the source of a particular listing. Do not send sensitive personal details, identity documents or confidential customer information in an initial enquiry.
Purposes and lawful bases
We use enquiry and correction information to understand requests, reply, assess proposed changes and keep relevant correspondence. We use business information to provide useful company profiles. Technical information supports delivery, security, troubleshooting and protection against abuse.
For ordinary directory administration, relevant public business listings and website security, our lawful basis is legitimate interests: operating a useful business directory, responding to requests and protecting the service. That basis requires us to consider the impact on individuals and their reasonable expectations. You can object to processing based on legitimate interests.
Where an enquiry concerns steps towards a separate agreement with us, processing necessary for those steps may be based on taking steps at your request before a contract. Where we must retain or disclose information to meet a legal obligation, that obligation is the basis. Where consent is required for an optional use, it must be obtained for that use and can be withdrawn.
Sending a directory enquiry is not an instruction to circulate your details to drilling companies and does not sign you up for marketing.
Search and maps
Using live search sends your search terms and selected filters to the directory's search service. These requests also involve normal network information, including your IP address. Avoid entering personal or confidential information into search. Search terms may appear in the page URL, so consider this before sharing a results link.
The nearby map asks for browser location only when you choose the location control and your browser permits access. The site uses the returned coordinates in your browser to calculate approximate distances and display your position. The directory's map code does not submit those coordinates with contact enquiries or search requests.
Map tiles are loaded from OpenStreetMap. Tile requests share network information and indicate the map area being viewed; that area may be near your location. You can browse listings without granting location permission and change or revoke permission in your browser settings. See the OpenStreetMap Foundation privacy policy for its handling of requests.
Service providers and sharing
The website uses hosting and supporting directory services to deliver pages, search and, when configured, submissions. Cloudflare provides website infrastructure. OctoStudio provides the supporting directory platform. When a protected submission form is available, Cloudflare Turnstile checks for automated abuse and receives technical verification information. See Cloudflare's privacy policy.
Where sponsored placements operate, the site requests their current availability and sends events when a sponsored card is viewed or its listing link is clicked. The events identify the placement, page context and event type. These requests also expose ordinary network information to the supporting service; they do not include the text of a contact message.
Information may be accessed by people and service providers who need it to operate the directory, handle a request or address a security issue. Information may also be disclosed where legally required. Contacting a listed company through its own website, email or telephone puts you in contact with that separate business, whose privacy practices apply to that interaction.
Providers may process technical information outside the UK. Where we arrange a restricted international transfer of personal information, applicable data protection safeguards are required. The providers' notices explain their own processing locations and transfer arrangements.
Cookies and browser storage
You do not need a visitor account to browse the directory. The directory's search, map and sponsored-placement code does not create a visitor profile in local storage or set its own tracking cookie. Google Analytics is not configured in the current site.
This does not mean that every infrastructure or verification service operates without cookies or similar technology. Security services may use browser checks or storage when needed to protect a request. Your browser controls let you inspect and restrict cookies and site storage; restrictions may affect protected forms. Any future non-essential tracking needs an appropriate consent mechanism before activation.
Retention and security
How long information is needed depends on its purpose. For an enquiry, relevant factors include whether the issue is resolved, whether a correction needs an audit trail, and whether a complaint or legal obligation requires continued retention. Public business details remain relevant while the listing is maintained, subject to accuracy and privacy concerns. Technical logs and backups follow the schedules of the services holding them.
Retention periods differ between correspondence, published business details and technical records. You can ask for the period or criteria applying to your information, or request deletion where the right applies. Information needed for an unresolved complaint or legal obligation may need to be retained after an ordinary enquiry has ended.
The site uses HTTPS for its public pages and configured submission services. No online transmission can be guaranteed secure. Keep initial messages proportionate to the request and do not send passwords, bank details or unnecessary personal documents.
Your rights and complaints
Depending on the circumstances, UK data protection law gives you rights to access your personal information, correct inaccuracies, request erasure or restriction, object to certain processing and receive certain information in a portable form. These rights have conditions and exceptions. Where processing relies on consent, you can withdraw it without affecting the lawfulness of earlier processing.
For a request, identify the relevant listing, enquiry or other information and the outcome you seek. We may need proportionate information to establish your identity or authority before disclosing or changing personal information. See the contact page for available directory contact methods.
You can complain to the UK's Information Commissioner's Office about the handling of personal information. See the ICO's complaint guidance and information about your data protection rights. You do not need our permission to contact the regulator.
Changes to this notice
We will update this notice when the directory's features or information-handling arrangements change. The date above identifies this version. Revisit it before sending information if you want to check the current arrangements.