This page gives you details about how we use cookies on www.virtualfm.co.uk (the “Site”). It should be read in conjunction with our Privacy Policy. If you have any questions about this policy, please get in touch.

By visiting, logging into, registering or using our Site, you agree that we can collect, use and transfer your personal data under the terms of this policy. If you do not agree to the terms of this policy, you can disable our cookies – see the “Managing Your Cookies” section below for details.

About cookies

Our Site uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our Site. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our Site and also allows us to improve our Site.

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.

How you consent to our use of cookies

When you visit our site you should see a Cookie Notice pop-up at the bottom of your screen directing you to this Privacy Policy which includes our policy on the usage of cookies. By selecting the “Accept & Close” button that appears in the pop-up you are demonstrating to us that you are freely giving us informed and specific consent for us to collect and process your personal information both submitted via forms and stored in Cookies for the purposes specified in this Privacy Policy and you are accepting and consenting to the practices described.

If you do not wish for us to be able to collect and process your personal information by using cookies please select the left aligned button on the Cookie Notice Pop-Up directing you to an external link: http://www.allaboutcookies.org/manage-cookies. This external source lists detailed instructions as to how to update your cookie settings. The button link provided in the Cookie Notice Pop-Up is intuitive and will link to relevant instructions according to the browser you are accessing our site from.

If you choose not to interact with the prominent Cookie Notice Pop-Up and continue to use our website, we will have no other option but to use cookies to collect and process personal information. Our website does not have the functionality to disable all or specific types of cookies. The only way to disable all or some cookies is to navigate off our website and update your browser settings. If you do not see a pop-up at the bottom of your screen then you may have already accepted our Privacy Policy (and Cookie Policy therein). Our website uses a cookie to remember past users to the website so as not to make users interact with the pop-up each time they visit the website. However, please note that to ensure users are reminded of our use of cookies, we have set a cookie expiration date of three months. The Cookie Notice Pop-Up will, therefore, display to users every three months should they regularly visit our website. Our Cookie Notice Pop-up is loaded via .php and not javascript therefore it is unlikely that pop-up blockers or similar tools will prevent this policy from being displayed. However, to account for the very small chance that a pop-up blocker could identify and decipher .php code to be a “pop-up” we ask that you ensure that any pop-up blockers are disabled when you use our site. We cannot be held liable to you if you use pop-up blockers or similar tools that prevent us from complying with our obligations under GDPR legislation. We will only hold your personal information as detailed in our Privacy Policy. Please see the section below titled “Cookies” for information on the type of data we collect using cookies

What do we use cookies for?

Our site uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our site and to save and retain certain parameters about you and your usage of our site. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our site and also allows us to improve our site.

There are four different categories of cookies that we may use on our site:

We use the following cookies:

Strictly necessary cookies. These are cookies that are required for the operation of our Site. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our Site, such as any 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 Site when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our Site works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.
Functionality cookies. These are used to recognise you when you return to our Site so you don’t have to re-submit forms for instance
Targeting cookies. These cookies record your visit to our Site, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. We will use this information to make our Site and the advertising displayed on it more relevant to your interests. We may also share this information with third parties for this purpose.

You can find more information about the individual cookies we use on our site and the purposes for which we use them in the table below.

COOKIE NAME COOKIE PURPOSE MORE INFO
ss_cookie_accept This cookie is used to remember a user has accepted cookies being set on their computers for 12 weeks. Once this timeframe has expired, the user will be required to interact/view the Cookie permission pop-up before interacting further. Contact See Saw for further information.
_ga
_gid
_gat
Google Analytics (GA). GA cookies are used to collect information on audience behaviours on our website. These cookies are set by tag.js + analytic.js libraries to distinguish unique users and throttle the request rate Google Analytics Cookie Usage on Websites.

This webpage describes how Google Analytics uses different cookies (and cookie libraries) to measure user-interactions on websites.

_utma
_utmt
_utmb
_utmc
_utmz
_utmv
Google Analytics (GA). First party cookies set by ga.js library. The function of each cookie can be understood by accessing the link in Column C of this table. Google Analytics Cookie Usage on Websites.

This webpage describes how Google Analytics uses different cookies (and cookie libraries) to measure user-interactions on websites.

How do I control cookies?

You can block cookies by activating the setting on your browser that allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of our site. You may also delete any cookies stored on your computer at any time.
You can find out more about changing cookie settings on your computer by visiting http://www.allaboutcookies.org/manage-cookies/.

How long is cookie information stored?

Different cookies may be stored for different periods of time. In many cases these cookies are updated automatically each time you visit our site or may expire and be deleted by your computer automatically. It is important to understand that when a cookie is placed on your computer it will reside on your hard drive until it expires and is deleted or it may reside on your hard drive until manually delete it – this entirely depends on your individual browser settings and we do not have control over this.

Please remember that you can delete or change the way in which you store cookies on your computer at any time.

Changes to our cookie policy

We may need to change this Cookie Policy if it’s necessary for legal reasons or to reflect changes to our services or the purpose for which we use cookies. In any case, the provisions of this Cookie Policy may be changed without prejudice to your rights. When we change our Cookie Policy we will make the updated Cookie Policy available on our site and we will also update the “Last Updated” date at the beginning of this policy.

Any changes to our Cookie Policy will come into effect 30 days after we post it on our site. During that period, you’re welcome to contact us if you have questions about the changes. If you have an account for our site then we may reset your login and seek new consent if there is a change in the purpose for which we may use cookies.

Contact us

This Cookie Policy was prepared with brevity and clarity in mind. It does not provide exhaustive detail of all aspects of how cookies may be used to collect and/or process your personal information. However, we are happy to provide additional information or explanation needed.
If you have any questions, comments or requests regarding our Cookie Policy then please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.

Read our Covid Statement