INTRODUCTION

1.1 This Privacy Policy describes in detail who is responsible for the personal information that we may collect about you, what personal information we collect, how we may use such personal information, who we may disclose it to and your rights and choices in relation to your personal information. 

1.2 This Privacy Policy applies to:

1.2.1 current and former employees of Tillington Member Companies;

1.2.2 current and former employees of potential, existing or former suppliers of the Tillington Group and/or Tillington Member Companies;

1.2.3 persons making contact with the Tillington Group via the Tillington Website (www.tillington.co.uk) or by direct approach to the Secretary or Chairman of the Tillington Group or acquired by the Tillington Group from a Tillington Member Company or third party.

1.3 This Privacy Policy only applies to personal information collected by or on behalf of the Tillington Group. Personal information supplied to Tillington Member Companies in their individual capacity will be covered by their own privacy policies. 

1.4 This Privacy Policy does not form part of any contract to provide goods or services. 

1.5 We may update this Privacy Policy at any time.  

1.6 In this Privacy Policy references to we, us or our means The Tillington Group of Garden Centres (the Tillington Group) which is a membership organisation comprising the following companies (Tillington Member Companies)

Alton Garden Centre Limited, Arterial Road, Wickford, Essex SS12 9JG 

Company Reg.: 09340714

Bents Garden & Home, Warrington Road, Glazebury, Warrington WA3 5NT 

Company Reg.: 2869245

Frosts Garden Centre, Newport Road, Milton Keynes MK17 8UE

Company Reg.: 01272637

Willington Garden Centre, Sandy Road Willington, MK44 3QP

Hayes Garden World Ltd, Lake Road, Ambleside, Cumbria LA22 0DW. 

Company Reg.: 159759

Otter Nurseries Ltd, Gosford Road, Ottery St Mary, Devon, EX11 1LZ 

Company Reg.: 01512823

Otter Nurseries (Torbay) Ltd, Gosford Road, Ottery St Mary, Devon, EX11 1LZ 

Company Reg.: 01774685

Otter Nurseries Lymington Ltd Gosford Road, Ottery St Mary, Devon EX11 1LZ    

Company Reg.: 04510983

Otter Nurseries of Plymouth Ltd, Chittleburn Hill, Brixton, Plymouth PL8 2BL 

Company Reg.: 03232467

Otter (Jack’s Patch) Ltd, Gosford Road, Ottery St Mary, Devon EX11 1LZ

Company Reg.: 11881482

Otter (Taunton) Ltd, Gosford Road, Ottery St Mary, Devon EX11 1LZ

Company Reg.: 11881673

Ruxley Manor Garden Centre, Maidstone Road, Sidcup, DA14 5BQ

Company Reg.:1170687

Scotsdale Nursery and Garden Centre Limited, Cambridge Road, Great Shelford

Cambridge CB22 5JT

Company Reg.: 0820387

1. J. Squire & Co. Limited, Sixth Cross Road, Twickenham, Middlesex, TW2 5PA

Company Reg.: 00316151

Webbs Garden Centres Limited, Worcester Road, Wychbold, Droitwich Spa

Worcestershire WR9 0DG

Company Reg.: 777596

Whitehall Garden Centres Ltd, Lacock, Chippenham, Wiltshire SN15 2LZ

Company Reg.: 4981754

1.6.1 you means persons identified in 1.2 above as someone to whom this policy applies; and

1.6.2 personal information is information that is about you and which identifies you.

2. WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PERSONAL INFORMATION THAT WE COLLECT?

2.1 We are the controller for the purpose of data protection law, in respect of your personal information that is collected and used during and after your commercial relationship with us. 

2.2 If you have any questions regarding this Privacy Policy or the way we use your personal information, please contact Robin Clark, the Secretary of the Tillington Group – [email protected]

3. WHAT PERSONAL INFORMATION DO WE HOLD ABOUT YOU?

3.1 We will collect, process and use the following personal information about you:  personal details such as name, title, addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses. 

3.2 We may receive this personal information about you from Tillington Member Companies or from potential, existing or former suppliers of the Tillington Group and/or Tillington Member Companies as well as directly from you.

4. INFORMATION ABOUT THIRD PARTIES

4.1 In the course of your dealings with us you may provide us with personal information relating to third parties.   

4.3 We will use this personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.  If you are providing personal information to us relating to a third party, you must have the permission of the third party to share such personal information with us and you must make the information in this Privacy Policy available to the third party. This Privacy Policy will be published on our website [www.tillington.co.uk]

5. HOW DO WE USE THE PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU?

5.1 Your personal information may be used by us, Tillington Member Companies and our and their employees and service providers. Your personal information may be disclosed to third parties for the following purposes.  For each of these purposes, we have set out the legal basis on which we and Tillington Member Companies use your personal information.  Depending on the circumstances, more than one legal basis may apply.  

5.2.1 In the case of employees of Tillington Member Companies: –

To enable you to perform your role as a Tillington negotiator and /or member of a Tillington committee or community or to assist you in performing your duties as an employee of a Tillington Member Company and its relationship with potential, existing and former suppliers of the Tillington Group. This processing is necessary for our legitimate business interests and those of Tillington Member Companies

5.2.2 In the case of potential, existing or former suppliers of goods and services to the Tillington Group and/or Tillington Member Companies (or employees thereof) : –

(i) Deciding whether to enter into a contract with you or your employer. This processing is necessary for our legitimate business interests in order for us to make appropriate decisions

(ii) Administering the contract(s) that we have entered into with you or your employer. This processing is necessary for the performance of the contractual obligations between you and us.

(iii) To communicate with you about any contract we have entered into with you or your employer. The legal basis will fall into one of the following two categories, depending on the communication and the purpose for which it was sent: 

• our legitimate business interests in order for us to manage our relationship with you; and/or
• performance of a contract between you and us.

(iv) To enforce or apply the agreements concerning you (including agreements between you and us). Depending on the circumstances:

• the processing is carried out for our legitimate business interests in order to conduct and manage our business; or 
• in connection with legal proceedings (i.e. the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims). 

5.2.3 In the case of employees of both Tillington Member Companies and potential, existing or former suppliers of goods and services to Tillington Member Companies: –

We may use photos/images in which you feature for publicity purposes. This processing is carried out for our legitimate business interests in order to raise awareness of the brands of Tillington Member Companies and their goods and services.

5.3 We may be required to process your personal information to comply with our legal requirements, to enable us to fulfil the terms of any contract that we have with or in preparation of us entering into a contract with you. If you do not provide the relevant personal information to us, we may not be able to fulfil the terms of any contract that we have with you. Failure to provide such personal information may also affect your ability to exercise your contractual rights.

5.4 As stated above, we may also use any photographs that you feature in for our publicity purposes, for example in our stores, in local newspapers or other publications, on our website or that of Tillington Member Companies. If you no longer wish for your image to be used for these purposes, please contact the Secretary at the email address set out in section 9.2.  Please note that any such request will only apply to photographs which have not yet been published and distributed.  We will not be able to withdraw any photographs which have already been published or distributed on or prior to the date of your request.

6.  WHO MAY WE DISCLOSE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION TO?

6.1 You agree that we may share your personal information with:

6.1.1 Tillington Member Companies their business partners, suppliers and sub-contractors for the negotiation and performance of any contract entered into with you by Tillington Member Companies.

6.1.2 other professional advisers (including accountants, lawyers, bankers, insurers and insurance brokers) that assist us in carrying out our business activities;

6.1.3 police and other law enforcement agencies in connection with the prevention and detection of crime;

6.1.4 other external agencies and organisations (including the National Crime Agency) for the purpose of preventing and detecting fraud (including fraudulent transactions), money laundering and criminal activity; and

6.1.5 third parties if we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal information in order to comply with any legal obligation or instructions of a regulatory body (including in connection with a court order), or in order to enforce or apply the terms of any agreements we have with or otherwise concerning you (including agreements between you and us) or to protect our rights, property or safety of our clients, employees or other third parties. 

7. WHERE WILL WE TRANSFER YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?

7.1 We may process your personal information both within and outside the European Economic Area (EEA). Where we transfer personal data outside of the EEA, we will implement appropriate and suitable safeguards to ensure that such personal information will be protected as required by applicable data protection law. We will also take into account the impact of Brexit on date protection legislation, the incorporation of the GDPR into UK Law as UK-GDPR, and transitional measures post 1.1.2021 agreed between the UK and EU

7.2 These measures generally include either:

7.2.1 transferring personal information to countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal information by the European Commission under Article 45(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation; or

7.2.2 transferring personal information where the recipient has agreed to a European Commission approved data transfer agreement in the form of the standard contractual clauses under Article 46(2) of the General Data Protection Regulation.

7.3 Please contact us using the contact details in section 2.2 above if you want further information on the specific mechanism used by us when transferring your personal information out of the EEA.

8. HOW LONG WILL WE KEEP YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

8.1 If you are an employee of a Tillington Member Company, for the duration of your working relationship with such company and if longer for a period of up to 7 years after the determination of any relevant contract where your name appears on a Terms Record Sheet.

8.2 If you are an employee of an existing or former supplier to the Tillington Group for a period of up to 7 years following the determination of any contract where your name appears on the Terms Record Sheet

8.3 If you are an employee of a potential supplier to the Tillington Group for a period of up to 7 years following the determination of any contract where your name appears on the Terms Record Sheet, or 7 years following the termination of unsuccessful negotiations between your employer and the Tillington Group, whichever comes later.

8.4 If you have made a general enquiry then for a maximum of 12 months following such enquiry being dealt with, by or passed on to the relevant Tillington Member Company

8.5 Please note that all of the above retention periods may be extended where we need to preserve and use personal information for the purposes of bringing or defending a legal claim.  In such cases, we will continue to hold and process your personal information for as long as is necessary to deal with the legal proceedings.

9. YOUR RIGHTS

9.1 You have certain rights with respect to your personal information.  The rights may only apply in certain circumstances and are subject to certain exemptions.  Please see below for a summary of your rights.  

9.2 If you wish to exercise any of the below rights, please contact the Secretary, Robin Clark at [email protected]

Summary of your rights

9.2.1 Right of access to your personal information: You have the right to receive a copy of your personal information that we hold about you, subject to certain exemptions.  

9.2.2 Any access request is free of charge. We may require further information in order to respond to your request (for instance, evidence of your identity and information to enable us to locate the specific personal information you require).

9.2.3 Right to rectify your personal information: You have the right to ask us to correct your personal information that we hold where it is incorrect or incomplete.

9.2.4 Right to erasure of your personal information: You have the right to ask that your personal information be deleted in certain circumstances.  For example (i) where your personal information is no longer necessary in relation to the purposes for which they were collected or otherwise used; (ii) if you withdraw your consent and there is no other legal ground for which we rely on for the continued use of your personal information; (iii) if you object to the use of your personal information (as set out below); (iv) if we have used your personal information unlawfully; or (v) if your personal information needs to be erased to comply with a legal obligation.

9.2.5 Right to restrict the use of your personal information: You have the right to suspend our use of your personal information in certain circumstances.  For example (i) where you think your personal information is inaccurate and only for such period to enable us to verify the accuracy of your personal information; (ii) the use of your personal information is unlawful and you oppose the erasure of your personal information and request that it is suspended instead; (iii) we no longer need your personal information, but your personal information is required by you for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims; or (iv) you have objected to the use of your personal information and we are verifying whether our grounds for the use of your personal information override your objection.

9.2.6 Right to data portability: You have the right to obtain your personal information in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and for it to be transferred to another organisation, where it is technically feasible. The right only applies where the use of your personal information is based on your consent or for the performance of a contract, and when the use of your personal information is carried out by automated (i.e. electronic) means.

9.2.7 Right to object to the use of your personal information: You have the right to object to the use of your personal information in certain circumstances. For example (i) where you have grounds relating to your particular situation and we use your personal information for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) including for profiling; and (ii) if you object to the use of your personal information for direct marketing purposes, which includes profiling to the extent it relates to such direct marketing.

9.2.8 Right to withdraw consent: You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time where we rely on consent to use your personal information.

9.2.9 Right to complain to the relevant data protection authority: You have the right to complain to the relevant data protection authority, which is in the case of us, the Information Commissioner’s Office, where you think we have not used your personal information in accordance with data protection law. The ICO’s contact details are:  Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliff House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

10. CHANGES TO OUR PRIVACY POLICY

We may make changes to this Privacy Policy in the future and this policy will then be replaced by the updated policy on our website.  The updated Privacy Policy will take effect as soon as it has been updated.

This Privacy Policy was updated in 25th February 2019 and reviewed 19th February 2021 and 1 March 2023.