Privacy Policy

Privacy policy for Media Solutions (North East) Ltd., publishers of Local Answer

Media Solutions (North East) Ltd. is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy and personal information and being transparent about what data we hold. We want you to understand how we collect and use information about you. Media Solutions (North East) Ltd. is a processor of information for the purposes of advertising only.

Media Solutions (North East) Ltd. is committed to safeguarding, protecting and processing the privacy of personal data and complying with the European General Data Protection Regulation (2018), and any future changes in data protection legislation, with which Media Solutions will be required to comply.

This Privacy Policy relates to the processing of personal data by Media Solutions (North East) Ltd. Unless otherwise stated, all references to “we” or “our” shall imply all Media Solutions lines of business that process personal data.

The privacy notice describes to you:

Who we are
What personal data we collect and store about you, and how we collect it
Why we collect personal data and what we do with it
How we retain your information and keep it secure
Your rights and how to exercise them
How to contact us

1) Who are we?

We are Media Solutions (North East) Ltd., a business that aims to help local tradespeople and businesses promote and advertise their services within their local community through our delivered directories.

2) What information do we collect from you?

For live or potential customers – In the course of our business, which is the production of local directories and the sale of advertising space within them, we collect the following personal data when you provide it to us:

Name and title.
Contact data, such as: home address, billing address, e-mail address, telephone and mobile number(s)
Images and advert details required for the creation of adverts.
Payment and transaction data, such as: details about payments to and from you, details of products and services you have purchased from us.

Website Users

When using our website to find information, or to find a listed local business, we collect the following personal data:

Cookies – Our website uses cookies to collect information. This includes browsing behaviour by people who access our websites, pages viewed and how users navigate around our website. Detailed information is set out in our Cookie Policy.
Google Analytics – When someone visits www.local-answer.co.uk we use a third party service, Google Analytics, to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. This information is only processed in a way that does not identify anyone. We do not make, and do not allow Google to make, any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our website. To view Google’s full privacy policy please visit policies.google.com/privacy/update

3) How do we collect personal data?

We obtain personal data from sources as follows:

Directly from you when you interact with us, for example when you:
Book an advert into one of our directories.
Request information via email or through our website.
Phone our sales or administration teams, from details given on public self-promotion such as print advertising, social media and other means that show you are actively looking to promote your business in our directory area.

4) How do we use your personal data?

We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:

To perform a contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you.
If it is necessary for our legitimate interests and these are not overridden by your own rights and interests.
Where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.

Lawful Processing

In order to process personal data, we must have a lawful reason. We always ensure that this is the case, and we set out our lawful basis and legitimate interests below.

Contractual Necessity

If you are our customer, or potential customer, we will process your personal data for the following purposes, on the legal basis that it is necessary for us to provide our products and services to you:

To enable us to carry out our services.
To identify you, to respond to your inquiries, to the extent necessary to provide you with information you have requested in relation to our products and services before you decide to purchase them.
To provide our products and services, including enabling them to be delivered to you and contacting you about your advert.
To carry out billing and administration activities, including refunds and credits.
You are not obliged to provide us with any of this information, but if you choose not to, we may be unable to provide the product or service that you have requested.

Legitimate Interests

We collect and process your personal information for our legitimate business purposes, which include the following:

To conduct and manage our business.
To identify potential customers who are actively and publicly attempting to promote themselves inside and around our distribution area.

5) Do you have to provide personal data – and, if so, why?

To form a contract with you, we will need some or all of the personal data described above so that we can perform that contract or the steps that lead up to it: this is set out above in this notice. If we do not receive the data, the contract could not be performed.

Your personal data is provided for the purpose of advertising services as agreed under the terms of an agreement we have in place between you and us.

Media Solutions would like to support you throughout the entire process of advertising in our publications and can confirm that we do not offer further marketing services. Therefore, we do not require the facility or an option for you to ‘opt in’ to receive related services (marketing), as we do not carry out marketing or mailing list subscriptions.

6) How long will your personal data will be kept for?

We carefully consider the personal data that we store, and we will not keep your information in a form that identifies you for longer than is necessary for the purposes set out in this notice or as required by applicable law. In some instances, we will be required to keep your details on our system so your requests can be honoured, i.e. if you do not wish to be contacted in the future we require your details to reflect that on our system to ensure it does not happen.

7) How do we keep your personal data secure?

Where Media Solutions (North East) Ltd. acts as the controller of personal data, it will ensure that necessary and adequate safeguards are in place to prevent unauthorised access, loss, misuse or alteration of your personal data. Only authorised employees and third parties processing data on our behalf have access to your personal data.

Where data is stored electronically we store all personal information on secure servers with relevant access and firewall controls.

Where data is stored on paper or forms all personal data is locked away when not in use, and disposed of securely after use using document shredders.

8) Your information rights

We draw your attention to your following rights under data protection law:

The right to be informed about the collection and use of your personal data.
The right of access to your personal data, and the right to request a copy of the information that we hold about you – you will be asked to provide proof of your identity and residential address, and we may ask you to provide further details to assist us in the provision of such information.
Your right to have inaccurate personal data that we process about you rectified. Please do remember to tell us about any changes.
Your right of erasure. In certain circumstances you have the right to have personal data that we process about you erased.

Please contact us using the following details if you would like to exercise any of these rights or know more about them:

E-mail: info@local-answer.co.uk Mail: Data Privacy, Media Solutions (North East) Ltd, 34 St. George’s Crescent, New Marske, Redcar TS11 8BU.

9) Changes to this privacy policy

We may change this privacy policy periodically. You should check this policy on our website occasionally, in order to ensure you are aware of the most recent version.

10) What should you do if you have a complaint?

We do hope that you will contact us in the first instance using the following contact details, so that we have an opportunity to resolve it: