Last updated: 31 October 2026
Who runs this website
Bedford Tree Care is operated by Richard Summerfield. Postal address: 5 Hawk Drive, Bedford, Bedfordshire, MK41 7JE.
For questions, complaints and privacy requests, email info@bedfordtreecare.co.uk.
What this policy covers
This policy explains how we use information when you browse our guides, use the project planner, contact us or request a tree-work quotation. Richard Summerfield is the controller for information used to operate this website.
Your quote request
We use the information you provide to handle your tree-work enquiry, contact you about the job and help arrange a quotation. Sending the form does not book work or commit you to buy.
Information we use
- Browsing and security: technical connection information, such as an IP address and requested page, may appear in the hosting provider’s access or error logs. Our application uses a hashed IP-based identifier and timestamps to limit abusive requests; hashing does not make it anonymous.
- Planning: postcode, type and size of work, condition, access, obstacles, waste arrangements and any notes you enter. A full postcode can identify a small group of properties.
- Contacting us: your email address, name and the information you include in correspondence.
- Quote enquiries, when enabled: name, email, phone, project address, postcode, preferred timing, project description and optional photograph, together with submission, sharing and delivery records.
Give only information needed for the project. Avoid photographs of people, documents or neighbouring private spaces, and do not include sensitive health or other unnecessary personal information. Uploaded photographs are resized and re-encoded; the stored photograph is available to the website administrator, not publicly displayed.
Why we use it and our lawful bases
- Providing the planner and responding to general correspondence: legitimate interests in providing the service you request and answering your questions, balanced against your privacy. Planner fields are limited to information useful for your brief.
- Security and preventing duplicate or abusive submissions: legitimate interests in keeping the service secure and reliable.
- Responding to your quote request: legitimate interests in handling the enquiry you ask us to make, including limited sharing with one tree-care business selected to respond to that request. We limit the information to what is needed for that purpose; this does not authorise unrelated marketing or distribution to multiple businesses.
- Keeping a limited record of an enquiry and its handling: legitimate interests in handling your request and resolving questions or disputes.
- Meeting a specific legal requirement: legal obligation where that requirement applies, for example responding to a lawful disclosure request.
You may object to processing based on legitimate interests. You can ask us to stop future enquiry handling or sharing by contacting us. This does not undo lawful processing that has already happened. We can identify the business that received your request; it is responsible for its own quotation, correspondence and work records. Optional Analytics consent can be withdrawn through Cookie settings.
Who receives information
Richard Summerfield operates Bedford Tree Care and handles its enquiry records. Necessary hosting, email and maintenance providers help operate the service under appropriate data-protection arrangements.
To respond to a quote request, your contact details, project address and description may be provided to one tree-care business selected to handle that request, so it can contact you and discuss the work and a quotation. We do not distribute your enquiry to a list of businesses or use it for unrelated advertising. Ask us if you would like the identity of the business handling your request. The responding business is responsible for its own quotation and work records and should provide its own privacy information.
Optional photographs are held in restricted website storage. They are not published on the website or included in automatic email notifications.
Optional Google Analytics and Search Console
With your consent, Google Analytics measures visits, public pages viewed and limited named interactions such as starting the planner. It receives browser and device information and a cookie identifier. We do not send names, email addresses, phone numbers, postcodes, project notes or other form values, and Analytics is not loaded on private project-summary or contact-details pages. Google advertising features and enhanced automatic form tracking are disabled.
Our lawful basis for optional analytics is consent. You can refuse or withdraw it using Cookie settings without affecting the planner. Cookies are configured for up to 180 days; user-level and event-level data are configured for 14 months without resetting retention on new activity, while aggregated reports can remain longer. Google may process information outside the UK under its applicable data-processing and transfer arrangements. Read Google’s data-processing terms and privacy policy.
Google Search Console helps us understand how our public pages appear in Google Search and submit our sitemap. Its site-verification record does not install a visitor-tracking cookie.
How long information is kept
- Unsubmitted planner drafts and optional photographs: expire after two hours. A photograph added at the work-details step is stored privately while you complete the form; it is attached to the enquiry only when you send it. You can clear the draft through the cookie policy page. Expired session files are removed by the scheduled cleanup.
- Submitted enquiries, stored photos and associated local delivery records: the configured retention period is 180 days from creation, or earlier when marked for deletion. The scheduled retention task must run to carry out deletion.
- Abuse-prevention entries: entries older than 24 hours are cleared when the rate limiter next runs.
- Email correspondence: keep it only as long as necessary to answer the matter, resolve a dispute or meet an applicable legal obligation. Routine correspondence is reviewed and normally deleted within 12 months after the matter is closed, unless an ongoing dispute or legal obligation requires longer retention.
Hosting and email are provided by Unlimited Web Hosting UK Limited. Its cPanel backup service retains recovery copies for up to 14 days. Technical logs are retained for operational and security needs under the provider’s arrangements; contact us for details relevant to your request. Mailbox copies are reviewed separately under the correspondence period above. Copies held by the business responding to your request are governed by its privacy notice. Deleting a website record does not automatically delete a recipient’s email or a downloaded brief on your device.
Storage, security and overseas processing
Application records and photographs are stored outside the public web directory with restricted access. Public operation requires HTTPS. These measures reduce risk but no internet service can promise absolute security. Our hosting and mail provider is Unlimited Web Hosting UK Limited, which describes its hosting infrastructure as UK-based. We do not deliberately send enquiry data to overseas contractors. If a future provider arrangement involves a restricted international transfer, we will identify the applicable safeguards and update this notice before that use.
Your rights and complaints
Depending on the circumstances, you can ask for access, correction, deletion, restriction or a portable copy of your information, object to processing, and withdraw consent where used. Rights are not absolute. Contact us using the email or postal details above; include enough information to locate the record without sending unnecessary identity documents. We may need proportionate identity checks. We normally respond within one month; if a lawful extension applies we will explain it.
You may complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office. You do not have to complain to us first, although we welcome the opportunity to resolve a concern.
Matching, marketing and children
Service and postcode checks help determine whether a supported enquiry route is available. They do not diagnose a tree or make a legal or similarly significant decision about you. We do not use enquiry information for automated profiling, advertising or mailing lists. The planner and quote-request service are intended for adults arranging property work, not for children.
Changes
We will update the date above when this policy changes and explain significant changes before using information for a new purpose. See our cookie policy for device storage and our terms of use for the service’s scope.