Great Central Railway Privacy Policy

Our Privacy Promise

We take your privacy and data security seriously. This Privacy Notice explains how Great Central Railway PLC (“we”, “our”, “us”) collects and processes your personal data when you use our website, interact with us, or use our services — whether you’re booking a ticket, signing up to our newsletter, volunteering, or donating.

Who We Are

Data Controller: Great Central Railway PLC (Company No. 01257394), registered in England and Wales.
Registered Office: Great Central Road, Loughborough, Leicestershire, LE11 1RW
Email: data.protection@gcrailway.co.uk

We have appointed a Data Protection Officer (DPO) who oversees questions about this notice. You may contact the DPO using the details above.

If you are unhappy with how we handle your data, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at www.ico.org.uk.

The Data We Collect

We may collect and process the following types of personal data:

Category	Examples
Identity Data	Name, title, date of birth
Contact Data	Address, email, phone number
Payment Data	Card or bank details (handled securely by our payment providers)
Transaction Data	Tickets, merchandise, donations, or services purchased
Marketing & Comms Data	Preferences for receiving updates and offers
Technical Data	IP address, browser type, device data, cookies
Usage Data	How you use our website, services, and facilities
Volunteer or Staff Data (if applicable)	Medical info, training records, HR-related information

 

We also collect and use aggregated data for statistical purposes (e.g. total number of visitors), which does not identify individuals.

We do not knowingly collect data from children under 16 without parental consent.

We do not collect special category data unless it is necessary (e.g. to support disability access requests or operational safety for staff/volunteers).

How We Collect Your Data

We collect personal data via:

• Direct interactions: e.g. buying tickets, signing up for newsletters, donating, joining as a member or volunteer.
• Automated technologies: e.g. cookies, analytics tools, log files.
• Third parties: e.g. payment processors, membership partners, analytics providers.

How We Use Your Data

We use your personal data where we have a lawful basis to do so:

Purpose	Lawful Basis
To process your ticket, booking or donation	Contract
To manage memberships and volunteer relationships	Contract / Legitimate interest
To communicate service updates and send marketing (if opted in)	Consent / Legitimate interest
To comply with legal or regulatory obligations	Legal obligation
To administer and improve our website and services	Legitimate interest

 

We never sell your personal data.

Marketing and Preferences

We only send marketing communications if you have opted in or if we have a legitimate interest and you’re a recent customer. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in emails or by contacting us.

Sharing Your Data

We may share your data with:

• Essential service providers: e.g. payment processors, IT hosts
• Friends of the Great Central Main Line (FoGCML): for managing your membership
• David Clarke Railway Trust: where donations are processed
• Regulators and legal authorities: if required to do so by law

All partners are required to respect the security of your data and use it only for agreed purposes.

Data Security

We implement appropriate security measures to protect your personal data from being lost, accessed, or used in an unauthorised way.

We have procedures in place to deal with suspected data breaches and will notify you and regulators if legally required.

Data Retention

We only keep your personal data for as long as necessary. This varies depending on the nature of the data, but is guided by legal, operational, and tax obligations.

In some cases, we may anonymise your data for research or statistical purposes — this data is no longer linked to you.

Your Rights

You have rights under data protection law, including:

• Access: See what data we hold about you
• Correction: Ask us to fix inaccurate data
• Erasure: Request deletion (subject to legal requirements)
• Objection: Stop us using your data for direct marketing or legitimate interests
• Restriction: Ask us to suspend data processing
• Portability: Have your data transferred to you or a third party
• Withdraw consent: Where consent is used, you can withdraw it at any time

To exercise any of these rights, please contact our DPO. We aim to respond within one month.

Cookies & Analytics

We use cookies and similar tools to understand how people use our website and to improve the experience. You can control your cookie preferences at any time via your browser settings or our cookie banner.

Third-Party Links

Our site may contain links to third-party websites, plug-ins or apps. We are not responsible for their content or privacy practices. We recommend reading their privacy policies before providing personal data.

Updates to This Notice

We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time. Significant changes will be communicated via our website or by email where appropriate.

Last updated: 19 July 2025
Previous versions: Available on request

DigiTickets Privacy Policy

Who we are

In this privacy policy references to "we", "us" and "our" are to Great Central Railway. References to "our Website" or "the Website" are to gcrailway.digitickets.co.uk.

Information collected and its use

The information we collect via the Website may include:

1. Any personal details you knowingly provide us with through forms and our email, such as name, address, telephone number etc.
2. In order to effectively process credit or debit card transactions it may be necessary for the bank or card processing agency to verify your personal details for authorisation outside the European Economic Area (EEA). Such information will not be transferred out of the EEA for any other purpose.
3. Your preferences and use of email updates, recorded by emails we send you (if you select to receive email updates on products and offers).
4. Your IP Address, this is a string of numbers unique to your computer that is recorded by our web server when you request any page or component on the Website. This information is used to monitor your usage of the Website.
5. Information about your device such as your web browser, screen resolution and operating system. This information is used to ensure we continue to support the different devices used by our customers.
6. Data recorded by the Website which allows us to recognise you and your preferred settings, this saves you from re-entering information on return visits to the site. Such data is recorded locally on your computer through the use of cookies. Most browsers can be programmed to reject, or warn you before downloading cookies, information regarding this may be found in your browsers 'help' facility.

We do not store any credit card details.

What we do with your information

Any personal information we collect from this website will be used in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and other applicable laws. The details we collect will be used:

1. To process your order, to provide after sales service (we may pass your details to another organisation to supply/deliver products or services you have purchased and/or to provide after-sales service);
2. In certain cases we may use your email address to send you information on our other products and services. In such a case you will be offered the option to opt in/out before completing your purchase.

We may need to pass the information we collect to other companies for administrative purposes. We may use third parties to carry out certain activities, such as processing and sorting data, monitoring how customers use the Website and issuing our e-mails for us. Third parties will not be allowed to use your personal information for their own purposes.

Cookie Policy

Like many websites we use cookies to store and then retrieve small bits of information on your computer when you visit. This information is used to make the site work as you expect it to. It is not personally identifiable to you, but it can be used to give you a more personalised web experience.

Some of the information stored is put there by other companies whose software we have added to the site, and this can also impact your experience of other websites you may visit after leaving ours.

If you continue to use this site without taking action to prevent the storage of this information, you are effectively agreeing to this use.

If you want to learn more about the general uses of cookies, including how to stop them being stored by your computer, please visit Cookiepedia - all about cookies.

Below is a list of the different types of cookies used on this site, and an explanation of what they are used for. If you would like any more information, please get in touch.

Cookie	Name	Expiration Time	Purpose
Shopping Basket	PHPSESSID	24 minutes	This cookie is used to keep track of what items are in a user's shopping basket.
Cookie Consent	dtAnalyticsConsent	1 year	This cookie is used to monitor the users consent for analytical cookies on our site. No user data is collected without this being enabled.
Google Analytics	_ga _ga_container-id	2 years	These cookies are used to collect information about how visitors use our site. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve the site. The cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the site, where visitors have come to the site from and the pages they visited. Read Google's overview of privacy and safeguarding data
	_gid	24 hours
	_gat_tracker-name	1 minute
Microsoft Clarity	_clck	1 year	These cookies are used to collect information about how visitors use our site. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve the site. The cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the site and how they interact with the website. Read Microsoft Clarity's Cookie Overview and Data Retention Policy.
	_clsk	1 year
	CLID	1 year
	ANONCHK	1 year
	MR	1 year
	MUID	1 year
	SM	1 year
New Relic	__cfduid	1 year	This cookie is used to collect information about visitor's experience of the site in terms of performance. This helps us to monitor that our systems are working quickly and effectively, and to identify any problematic areas. Visit the New Relic website

Your Rights

You have the right to request a copy of any information that we currently hold about you. In order to receive such information please send your contact details including address to the following address:
Great Central Railway
Quorn & Woodhouse Station
LE12 8AG

Other websites

This privacy policy only covers this website. Any other websites which may be linked to by our website are subject to their own policy, which may differ from ours.