Due to courier restrictions, our deliveries may take 3-5 days, we thank you for your understanding.

Our Data Privacy Policy – what data do we collect and what do we do with it?

At Proton Group Limited (“Proton”), we take both your data and your privacy very seriously and are committed to ensuring that your personal information is protected and never misused.
If you give us consent to hold your data and communicate with you, this page explains what we do with it.

Our privacy policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, the ways in which that information will be used, the control you have over your personal information and the procedures we have in place to protect your personal information.

What personal information is being collected?

We collect personal information that you share with us when you contact us or interact with us through our websites, email, phone or in person at stands and events.

Through these interactions you may share with us various aspects of data and, in certain cases, your payment information. We will need that information to be able to provide you with a product or service that you have asked for.

Our websites are used to generate an order when being placed directly online or via our telesales team. We will collect all business and personal details (where appropriate) needed to process and deliver the products required. This will include your email address (business or personal), telephone number, name, outlet/business name and, where a different billing address is given, this will also be held.

Payment is usually made using Paypal facilities and we rely on their data security for the processing of payments under this method, as the payment screen section transfers you out of our websites to Paypal to perform this function and then transfers you back in after payment has been completed and is an off-site facility provided directly by Paypal. No details of your payment method are held by Proton from any Paypal transactions, whether using your debit or credit card or your personal Paypal account.

When a booking is made via the telesales team, we may also use a standard debit/credit card machine provided by our bank to process the payment. Any details taken to process and pay for a purchase are used solely for that purpose and the details are then then destroyed after payment has been authorised in accordance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (“PCIDSS”), with whom we are registered and whose guidelines we must follow to be able to operate this payment method.

No details are retained either electronically or in paper form by Proton relating to your debit or credit card details once the transaction has been completed and we will therefore need to obtain your payment details each time you place an order with us by this method.

We may already hold your business and personal details, which would have been provided originally by the brewery or pub group you belong to prior to GDPR being implemented. Alternatively, you may have provided these to us directly at recent roadshows or exhibitions we have attended. These details are only used to make you aware of our services.

Who is collecting the data?

Your data is being collected by The Proton Group Limited, Ripley Drive, Normanton Industrial Estate, Normanton, West Yorkshire, WF6 1QT.  We are a limited company registered in England & Wales at Companies House under our registration number 01000982.

Why is my data being collected?

We need to collect your details so that we can process an order which has been made directly online through our website buying portals or via our tele-sales team and to make you aware of our services.

As a user of our products and services, we will send you support communications by email if you need information from us or if you submit an enquiry so that we can contact you about your message.

We collect your name and email address when you download information from our websites to give us an overview of who is coming to our website and interacting with our material and so that we can, with permission, contact you about our core business-to-business service relating to the information you downloaded if appropriate.

How will my data be used?

If you contact us through our website or via telephone, we may hold your details or create an account for you within our Sales Order Processing (SOP) and accounting software, which is Pegasus Opera version 3. Also, Microsoft Office tools such as Excel, Word or via 3rd party software, such as Mailchimp, Woocommerce and WordPress.
The data held may include some personal information which is needed to process an order or make any relevant notes regarding the dates and times of contact you may have had with the telesales team.

If you purchase from us we will add your email address, name and company name to MailChimp for email marketing purposes.  Each email that you receive using MailChimp will come with a clear link to unsubscribe if you wish to do so and will follow the requirements of that body in our dealings with you.

Who will my data be shared with?

We will not share or sell your data to any third parties for marketing use.

Your data will be shared with parties needed to be able to process and deliver your order, which will include our nominated courier companies; who will include the address specified and given by you where the goods need to be delivered for their delivery schedules, including any special requirements which have been taken which you have requested. These will typically include, for example, delivery times; whether a tail-lift vehicle is required or where to leave the goods if you are not available to receive and sign for the goods.
A goods tracking number may also be provided to you by our nominated couriers for you to be able to monitor the expected arrival of the purchases.

Details required to create an order for delivery will be entered on to our websites by the dedicated website management company we use for this purpose, utilising the Woocommerce and WordPress software noted above.

The details of the order are then passed by secure file transmission (secure FTP files) into our Sales Order Processing and Accounting software.

Employees of our company may see the details you give to us in their day-to-day work, but only those who need to deal with your information will access this.

How do you protect my personal information?

We protect your data using a combination of physical and IT security controls. We store some of our data ‘in the cloud’. For example, our email system uses Microsoft Outlook 365, which is stored on Microsoft’s own servers. Our website systems are hosted by our dedicated website management company in “the cloud” at their data centre in Manchester by UK Fast.

Other information regarding your details are stored in our dedicated network server, as part of our accounting and SOP systems.

Third party software may also be used to store your data if you have given us permission to stay in touch with you, such as MailChimp.

Our systems are protected using the latest proprietary, industry-standard firewall protection and anti-virus software including access controls that restrict and manage the way in which any of your information and data is processed, managed and handled.

We also ensure that our staff are adequately trained in protecting your personal information.

Does your website use cookies?

Yes, this website uses tracking software to monitor its visitors to better understand how they use it.  For more information see our cookie privacy policy here

Resources & further information

Mailchimp Privacy Policy (https://mailchimp.com/legal/privacy)

Google Privacy Policy (https://www.googlecom/privacy.html)

Information Commissioner’s Office and for GDPR (http://www.ico.org.uk/)

How do I unsubscribe, or request to be forgotten?

If you receive an email from us using MailChimp email marketing software, you will be able to click the unsubscribe link in the footer to remove yourself from future mailings.

If you also wish us to remove or modify the details which we hold about you as a company or any personal information, we are happy to do this so long as it complies with the details we are required to hold within UK law.

Please note that where the data held is being utilised to generate orders from your purchase requirements then this may impact on your ability to order from us in the future.

To request to be forgotten, please email direct@proton-group.co.uk or call 01924 892834.

We will get back to you as soon as possible.

Proton cookies policy – part of our Data Privacy Policy

Introduction

Like most websites, the Proton websites (“Proton-Direct”) use cookies.
“Cookies” are small text files which save on to your device via your web browser. They’ve been around since the mid-1990’s and are one of the most widely used technologies on the internet. Many essential website functions rely on cookies. For example, you can’t shop online without them as they are used to remember what you add to your shopping basket.

Some cookies that we use at Proton will collect personal information about you. Any personal information that is collected will be used in accordance with our privacy policy. Cookies are there to allow our websites to work, and to help us understand what information is most useful to visitors of our websites.

This cookies policy describes how Proton uses cookies on all of its websites.
By continuing to use our websites, you accept that cookies will be set on your device, as outlined in this policy.

Where applicable, this website uses a cookie control system allowing the user on their first visit to the website to allow or disallow the use of cookies on their computer / device. This complies with legislation requirements for websites to obtain explicit consent from users before leaving behind or reading files such as cookies on a user’s computer / device.

How we use cookies

Many cookies on our website perform essential functions and enable you to move around our websites and use their features; for example, when you log in to your Proton Direct account, they remember the information in your account. We refer to these cookies in this policy as “Necessary Cookies”.

Other cookies are not essential but they help us understand how our websites are used by visitors, so that we can improve what we do online. We use Web Analytics tools for this. They look at things like how long our websites take to load, how they are used, and what information visitors to our sites look at most. This helps us to improve the way our websites work, for example, by ensuring that you find what you are looking for easily. They also help identify any parts of our websites that aren’t working as well as they should – so we can fix things and make our websites better for you and other users. We refer to these cookies in this policy as “Performance Cookies”.

Additional cookies allow our websites to recognise you when you return to our websites. This enable us to remember choices that you make (such as your user name or the region you are in for delivery purposes by checking your postcode) and provide enhanced, more personal features. We refer to these cookies in this policy as “Functionality Cookies”.

Types of cookies used by Proton

Cookies fall into two general categories: first party cookies (which we set) and third-party cookies (which are set by third parties).

First-party cookies:
These cookies are set by us at Proton. For the most part, they enable essential functionality on our website. They also include our own Web Analytics cookies, which we use to understand how our websites are used by visitors so that we can improve them.

Third-party cookies
We do not use any third-party cookies in our websites.
These are usually set by selected third parties when the websites use referral programs, sponsored links or adverts. Such cookies are used for conversion and referral tracking and typically expire after 30 days, although some may take longer. No personal information is stored, saved or collected through this method.

Social media cookies
As with third party cookies, we do not subscribe to social media links on our websites by sharing links with Facebook, Twitter and Linked-In as our websites are used specifically on a business-to-business basis with any personal information utilised being purely related to the fulfilment of orders and support services.

Session cookies
These cookies expire when you close your browser (or if you stay inactive for a certain time). They are used on our e-commerce websites so that you can continue browsing without losing what you put in your shopping basket.

Permanent cookies
These cookies persist even when the browser is closed. They are used to remember you so that you don’t have to re-enter passwords and login information every time you visit the websites (if you didn’t log out fully in the previous session).

Managing cookies

The most popular web browsers all allow you to manage cookies.
You can choose to accept or reject all cookies, or just specific types of cookies.
Users are advised that if they wish to deny the use and saving of cookies from this website on to their computers hard drive they should take necessary steps within their web browsers security settings to block all cookies from this website

What happens if you reject all cookies?
You’ll still be able to use some parts of our websites but some useful sections won’t work if you disable cookies. For example, you will not be able to log in and access your Proton account or make purchases.
Most browsers will allow you to turn off cookies. Please note that turning off cookies will restrict your use of our website.

More information about cookies

www.allaboutcookies.org is a useful resource with a lot of detailed information about cookies and how to manage them.
Please note that we currently do not respond to Do Not Track (DNT) signals.

Contact us

You can email our Privacy Team with any concerns by emailing direct@proton-group.co.uk or call 01924 892834.

We will get back to you as soon as possible.