Privacy Policy

Last updated 26 August 2026.

Who we are

Dock Road Books is the publishing imprint of Trevor Davies, a sole trader in the United Kingdom. For the purposes of UK data protection law, Trevor Davies trading as Dock Road Books is the data controller for this website.

You can reach us at trevor@learning.dockroadbooks.co.uk.

What this policy covers

This policy explains what personal information dockroadbooks.co.uk collects, why we collect it, who else sees it and what you can do about it. It covers this website only. If you buy a book through Payhip or Amazon you leave this site, and their own privacy policies apply from that point. We never see your card details.

Information you give us

Comments. If you comment on a Journal post we store the name and email address you supply, the comment itself, your IP address and your browser's user agent string. Your email address is not published. WordPress may show a picture from the Gravatar service beside your comment; to do that, a scrambled (hashed) version of your email address is sent to Automattic Inc., who run Gravatar.

Email. If you write to us we keep your message and your address in the mailbox so we can reply and keep a record of the exchange.

Information collected automatically

Server logs. Our hosting provider records the usual web server information: IP address, date and time, the pages requested, the browser and operating system used. It keeps the site running and helps us investigate abuse.

Google Analytics. Only if you accept analytics cookies. Google Analytics 4 tells us which pages are read, roughly where in the world readers are and how they found us. It does not tell us who you are. Google Ireland Limited acts as our processor, and Google LLC in the United States may process the data on their behalf. If you decline, or if you have not yet answered the banner, no Google Analytics code is loaded at all.

Google Fonts. The typefaces on this site are served from Google's servers, which means your IP address is disclosed to Google when a page loads. This happens whatever your analytics choice. We are looking at hosting the fonts ourselves to remove it.

Likes. If you press the like button on a Journal post we store a one-way scrambled version of your IP address for twelve months, so the same person cannot vote twice. The address itself is not stored, and the scrambled value cannot be turned back into it.

Spam filtering. Comments are checked by Akismet, run by Automattic Inc. To do that, the comment content along with your name, email address, IP address and user agent are sent to Automattic's servers in the United States.

Why we use it, and our lawful basis

• Publishing and moderating comments — so readers can respond to what we publish. Legitimate interests, together with your own decision to submit the comment.
• Spam filtering — to keep the comments readable. Legitimate interests.
• Replying to email — to answer you. Legitimate interests.
• Server logs and security — to keep the site available and safe. Legitimate interests.
• Google Analytics — to understand what people read. Your consent.
• The like counter — to stop repeat voting. Legitimate interests.

Where we rely on legitimate interests, that interest is running a small publishing website. We have weighed it against your own interests and use the least information that will do the job.

Who else sees it

We do not sell your information and we do not use it for advertising. It is handled by:

• our hosting provider, who stores the website and its database;
• Automattic Inc. in the United States, for Akismet spam filtering and Gravatar images;
• Google Ireland Limited and Google LLC, for Analytics and Fonts.

We will also disclose information where the law requires it.

Transfers outside the UK

Automattic and Google may process data in the United States. Those transfers rely on the safeguards UK data protection law permits — the UK Extension to the EU–US Data Privacy Framework, or the International Data Transfer Addendum to the European Commission's standard contractual clauses — depending on the supplier.

How long we keep it

• Comments and their metadata: for as long as the post they belong to is published, unless you ask us to remove them.
• Email correspondence: while it is still useful, then deleted.
• Like records: twelve months.
• Server logs: kept by our host on a short rolling cycle.
• Google Analytics: held by Google for the retention period set in our Analytics property. We keep no copy of our own.

Your rights

You have the right to ask for a copy of the information we hold about you, to have it corrected, to have it deleted, to restrict or object to the way we use it, and to receive a portable copy of anything you gave us. Where we rely on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

To exercise any of these, email trevor@learning.dockroadbooks.co.uk. We will reply within one month.

Cookies

Full detail is in our Cookie Policy. You can change your cookie choice whenever you like.

Complaints

If you are unhappy with the way we have handled your information, please tell us first so we can put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office, the UK's data protection regulator, at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.

Changes to this policy

If anything here changes we will update this page and the date at the top.