Privacy Policy

This privacy policy describes what you can expect us to do with your personal information when you use flakeads.co.uk and any related Flake Ads services.

It applies to visitors, registered users, advertisers, prospective advertisers, people who respond to advertisements and anyone who contacts our support or compliance team.

This policy should be read together with our Cookies Policy , Terms and Conditions and any additional privacy information presented when we collect information from you.

Flake Ads is a trading name of TROL LTD. TROL LTD is the controller responsible for deciding why and how your personal information is processed through the Flake Ads platform.

The personal information we collect depends on how you interact with Flake Ads.

Information contained in advertisements

When you submit an advertisement, you decide which information to include. Depending on the listing, this could include your name, business name, approximate location, telephone number, email address, photographs or other identifying information.

Special category information

We do not ordinarily ask users to provide special category information, such as information about health, ethnicity, religion, political opinions, trade union membership, genetics, biometrics or sexual orientation.

Please do not include this type of information in an advertisement or message unless it is necessary, lawful and appropriate. Where such information is supplied, we will process it only where a valid legal condition applies.

We may collect information:

• directly from you when you register, log in, submit or edit an advertisement, complete a form or contact us;
• automatically through server logs, security tools, cookies and similar technologies when you use the website;
• from another user who sends us a report, enquiry or complaint involving your account or advertisement;
• from identity, fraud-prevention, payment, hosting, analytics or technical service providers where relevant;
• from publicly accessible sources where necessary to investigate fraud, misuse, intellectual-property concerns or other unlawful activity; and
• through a third-party sign-in service where you choose to use one and authorise it to provide account information to us.

We may use your personal information to:

• create, verify, administer and secure your user account;
• receive, review, publish, organise and display advertisements;
• enable users to communicate regarding advertisements;
• provide customer support and respond to enquiries;
• process payments and administer paid or promotional services where applicable;
• moderate advertisements and enforce our Terms and Conditions;
• identify and prevent spam, scams, fraud, malicious activity, security incidents and other misuse;
• investigate complaints, takedown requests, legal notices and intellectual-property concerns;
• analyse website performance and improve our services;
• maintain records required for accounting, legal, compliance and dispute-management purposes;
• communicate important information about your account, advertisements, website changes or security; and
• send marketing communications where permitted by law.

We will not use your information for a materially incompatible purpose without first considering whether a further lawful basis or additional notice is required.

UK data-protection law requires us to identify a lawful basis before processing personal information. The basis used depends on the particular purpose and circumstances.

Legitimate interests

Where we rely on legitimate interests, those interests may include operating and improving a reliable classified advertising platform, securing our systems, preventing fraud, enforcing our terms, resolving disputes, protecting users and managing our business.

We consider whether the processing is necessary and whether your interests, rights or freedoms override our interests.

Consent

Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.

Flake Ads is a public classified advertising platform. Information you intentionally include in an advertisement may be visible to visitors, registered users, search engines and other third parties.

Public advertisement information may include:

• your username or advertiser name;
• your advertisement title and description;
• the town, city, region or location you select;
• photographs and other media you upload;
• a business name, website or social-media address;
• a masked or displayed telephone number; and
• other contact details you choose to publish.

Search engines and independent websites may index, cache, archive or reproduce public pages. Following deletion or expiry of an advertisement, copies may remain temporarily available in search-engine caches or third-party archives outside our direct control.

You are responsible for ensuring that you have a lawful right to publish any personal information relating to another person.

We may share personal information only where reasonably necessary and lawful, including with:

• website hosting, cloud-storage, security, backup and technical-support providers;
• email, communications and customer-support providers;
• analytics, performance and cookie providers where permitted;
• payment providers and financial institutions where a transaction is made;
• professional advisers, including accountants, solicitors, insurers and auditors;
• fraud-prevention, cybersecurity and identity-verification providers;
• regulators, courts, law-enforcement agencies, public authorities or other bodies where disclosure is required or legally justified;
• rights holders or their authorised representatives where necessary to assess or respond to a valid legal complaint;
• a buyer, seller, investor or adviser involved in a proposed business sale, merger, restructuring or transfer; and
• other parties where you have requested or authorised the disclosure.

Service providers acting for us are expected to process personal information only for authorised purposes and to apply appropriate confidentiality and security measures.

Some service providers or technical systems may store or process information outside the United Kingdom.

Where personal information is transferred internationally, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that an appropriate legal safeguard applies. Depending on the destination, safeguards may include:

• a UK adequacy regulation recognising the destination as providing adequate protection;
• an approved international data-transfer agreement or contractual addendum;
• contractual, organisational and technical protections; or
• another legally permitted transfer mechanism.

You may contact us for further information about safeguards relevant to your personal information.

We retain personal information only for as long as it is reasonably required for the purpose for which it was collected, including legal, accounting, security, contractual and dispute-management purposes.

Retention periods vary according to the nature of the information and may include:

• account information for the duration of the account and for a reasonable period after closure;
• live advertisement information while the advertisement remains active;
• expired, withdrawn or deleted advertisement records for a limited period for moderation, fraud prevention, complaints and legal claims;
• contact and support correspondence for as long as necessary to resolve the matter and maintain an appropriate record;
• transaction and accounting records for the applicable statutory retention period;
• security logs for a proportionate period based on security and operational requirements; and
• complaint, infringement or enforcement records where required to protect legal rights or comply with law.

Information may be retained for longer where litigation, an investigation, regulatory action or a legal preservation requirement is anticipated or ongoing.

When information is no longer required, we will delete, anonymise or securely isolate it, subject to technical backup cycles and legal requirements.

We use reasonable technical and organisational measures intended to protect personal information against unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, loss or destruction.

These measures may include:

• encrypted website connections;
• password hashing and account-access controls;
• hosting and network security controls;
• system monitoring, backups and software updates;
• administrative access restrictions;
• spam, fraud and malicious-activity detection;
• confidentiality obligations; and
• incident-response and data-breach procedures.

No internet service can guarantee absolute security. You should use a unique, strong password, protect your login credentials and contact us promptly if you suspect unauthorised use of your account.

Flake Ads may use cookies, pixels, local storage and similar technologies to operate and secure the website, remember user choices, measure performance and understand how the service is used.

Cookies may include:

• Strictly necessary cookies: required for login, security, forms and essential website functions.
• Preference cookies: used to remember selected settings.
• Analytics cookies: used to understand website use and performance.
• Advertising or third-party cookies: where used and permitted, to measure or personalise advertising.

Where consent is legally required, optional cookies should not be activated until you make a choice. You can change your cookie choices through the website’s cookie-control facility, where available, and through your browser settings.

Further information is available in our Cookies Policy .

We may send service communications necessary to operate your account or manage your advertisements. These are not marketing communications and may include:

• account verification and security notices;
• advertisement approval, rejection or expiry notices;
• responses to enquiries and complaints;
• important changes affecting the service; and
• legal or compliance communications.

We may also send promotional communications where you have consented or where another lawful basis permits us to do so.

You may unsubscribe from marketing emails by using the unsubscribe facility within the message or by contacting us at admin@flakeads.co.uk .

We may retain a minimal suppression record so that we can respect an unsubscribe request.

Depending on the circumstances and applicable law, you may have the following rights:

• Right to be informed: to receive clear information about how your personal information is used.
• Right of access: to request a copy of personal information we hold about you.
• Right to rectification: to ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
• Right to erasure: to ask us to delete information in certain circumstances.
• Right to restriction: to ask us to limit the use of information in certain circumstances.
• Right to object: to object to processing based on legitimate interests or to direct marketing.
• Right to data portability: to receive certain information in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format.
• Rights relating to automated decisions: to seek safeguards where a decision producing legal or similarly significant effects is made solely by automated means.
• Right to withdraw consent: where processing is based on consent.

These rights are not absolute. A request may be limited or refused where an exemption or overriding legal requirement applies. We will explain the relevant reason where the law permits us to do so.

How to exercise your rights

Send your request to admin@flakeads.co.uk and describe the information or account concerned.

We may request reasonable information to verify your identity and protect personal information from unauthorised disclosure. We will respond within the timeframe required by applicable data-protection law.

You will not normally be charged for exercising your rights. A reasonable fee may be permitted where a request is manifestly unfounded or excessive, or we may lawfully refuse the request in those circumstances.

Flake Ads is not intended to be used independently by children who are not legally capable of entering into the relevant agreement or providing valid consent.

A parent or guardian should supervise any permitted use by a minor. Children should not publish their address, school, telephone number, personal photographs or other identifying information in an advertisement.

Contact us promptly if you believe a child has provided personal information unlawfully or without appropriate authorisation.

Advertisements and other pages may contain links to third-party websites, services, social-media accounts or payment facilities.

Those third parties control their own processing of personal information. Their privacy practices are not governed by this policy, and you should review their privacy notices before providing information.

Flake Ads acts as a classified advertising platform. Advertisers are responsible for the information they collect directly from people who contact them and may be separate data controllers for that information.

Please contact us first if you have concerns about the way we have handled your personal information. This gives us an opportunity to investigate and try to resolve the matter.

We will provide a clear way to make a complaint, investigate the matter without undue delay and inform you of the outcome.

Information Commissioner’s Office

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office, the United Kingdom’s data-protection regulator.

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Website: Make a complaint to the ICO

We may update this privacy policy to reflect legal, regulatory, technical or operational changes.

The current version will be published on this page with a revised effective date. Where a change materially affects how we use your personal information, we will provide an appropriate additional notice and obtain consent where the law requires it.

You should review this page periodically to remain informed about how we protect personal information.

Contact the Flake Ads team regarding this privacy policy, your personal information, a rights request or a data-protection complaint.

Please do not send passwords, complete payment-card details or unnecessary identity documents by ordinary email.