Privacy policy

Last updated: 11/08/2026

1. Who we are

PG Gardening & Tree Surgeon ("we", "us") is a sole trader business providing gardening, tree surgery, hedge cutting and power washing services in Blackburn and across Lancashire.

For the purposes of the UK GDPR we are the data controller for the personal information described in this policy. That means we decide what information is collected and what happens to it.

Contact for data protection matters: pggardening1@gmail.com, or Gerry: 07443 356 651.

Owner: still needed — the name of the person trading, and a UK address where post can be sent. A sole trader using a business name rather than their own surname has to show both. No company number is needed — that only applies to limited companies.

2. What information we collect

We only collect what we need to answer your enquiry and do the work.

We do not collect any special category data (health, ethnicity, religion and similar), and we do not ask for payment card details through this website.

3. Our lawful bases for using it

• Steps prior to entering a contract, and performance of a contract. When you ask for a quote and when we carry out work for you.
• Legitimate interests. Keeping records of jobs and quotes, and responding to general enquiries. We have considered your interests and rights and believe this is what you would reasonably expect.
• Consent. For optional analytics cookies, and for publishing a review or a photograph of your garden. You can withdraw consent at any time.
• Legal obligation. Keeping records required for tax and, where relevant, waste carriage.

4. Photographs of your property

We take photographs of work we carry out, and some appear in the gallery on this website. We keep them to the job itself, and we never publish a customer's name or address next to a photograph. We do not photograph people deliberately; because a good deal of our work is on driveways, front gardens and shared access, a neighbouring property or a parked vehicle is sometimes visible in the background.

If you would rather no photograph of your job appeared on the website, tell us and it will not be published, or it will be taken down if it already has been. You do not have to give a reason. The same applies if you appear in the background of a photograph of somebody else's job.

5. Who we share it with

We do not sell your information and we do not pass it to anyone for marketing. It is shared only with the services that make this business run:

• Netlify — hosts this website and processes the contact and review forms. Form submissions are stored in our Netlify account and forwarded to our email address.
• Google — reCAPTCHA is used on our forms to block automated spam, and Google Analytics is used if you accept analytics cookies. See the cookie policy.
• Our email provider — enquiries arrive in and are stored in our email account.
• HMRC and our accountant — where records form part of our business accounts.

Some of these providers process data outside the UK. Where that happens they rely on safeguards recognised under UK data protection law, such as the International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework.

6. How long we keep it

• Enquiries that do not lead to work: up to 12 months, then deleted.
• Customer and job records: 6 years after the last job, which matches the period for tax records and potential contractual claims.
• Published reviews: until you ask us to remove them.
• Photographs used on the website: until you ask us to remove them, or we refresh the gallery.

7. Your rights

Under the UK GDPR you have the right to:

• be told how your information is used — that is this policy;
• ask for a copy of the information we hold about you (a subject access request);
• have inaccurate information corrected;
• ask us to delete information, where there is no good reason for us to keep it;
• ask us to restrict how we use it;
• object to us using it on the basis of legitimate interests;
• ask for your information in a portable format, where it was provided by you and is processed by automated means;
• withdraw consent at any time, where we relied on consent.

To exercise any of these, contact us using the details in section 1. We will respond within one month. There is no charge unless a request is manifestly unfounded or excessive.

We do not carry out automated decision-making or profiling.

8. Keeping it secure

This website is served over HTTPS. Form submissions are held in a password-protected Netlify account and in our email account, both protected by strong passwords and, where available, two-factor authentication. Access is limited to people in the business who need it.

9. Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, please tell us first — most things are sorted out quickly that way.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office, which is the UK's data protection regulator:

• Website: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint
• Helpline: 0303 123 1113
• Post: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

10. Changes to this policy

If we change how we handle personal information, we will update this page and change the "last updated" date at the top.