Privacy Policy

How Elms Tree Services handles your personal information when you use our website.

Last updated: 17 August 2026

Elms Tree Services ("we", "us", "our") operates the website at www.elmstreeservices.co.uk. This policy explains what personal data we collect, why we collect it, and your rights under UK GDPR.

Who we are

Elms Tree Services
36 Elms Road, Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, West Midlands, B72 1JF
Telephone: 0121 673 2670
Email: info@elmstreeservices.co.uk

What data we collect

We may collect the following when you use our website:

  • Contact form enquiries — name, phone number, area, email (optional), and message content. These are stored in our website database so we can respond to your enquiry.
  • Guide download form — name and email address when you request our free tree surgeon guide.
  • First-party attribution — landing page, referrer, campaign parameters (UTM), and advertising click identifiers (such as Google Ads gclid) when you arrive from an ad or campaign link. We use this to understand which pages and campaigns lead to genuine enquiries. These identifiers are stored with your enquiry on our server and are not sent to Google Analytics as personal data.
  • Page journey — an ordered list of pages you visited on our site during the same browser session before submitting a form (paths only, no search terms or personal details).
  • Anonymous interaction counts — when you tap our phone number, click our email address or a "get a quote" button, or start the contact form, we record that the action happened together with the page, where you came from (for example Google or a campaign) and whether you were on a mobile, tablet or desktop device. This uses a random identifier that exists only for your browser session. It contains no name, phone number, email address or message, and is not linked to any enquiry. We also record the device type (mobile, tablet or desktop) with enquiries you send.
  • Analytics data — anonymised usage data via Google Analytics 4 (page views, device type, general location). We do not send your name, email, phone number or message content to Google Analytics.
  • Technical data — IP address and browser type, collected by our server and anti-spam systems for security. This is not stored against your enquiry record.

How we use your data

  • To respond to your enquiry and provide a quote for tree surgery work.
  • To send the free guide you requested (guide form only).
  • To improve our website and understand how visitors use it (analytics and first-party enquiry attribution).
  • To protect our website from spam and abuse (Cloudflare Turnstile and honeypot fields).

We do not sell your personal data. We do not use your data for unrelated marketing without your consent.

Legal basis for processing

  • Legitimate interests — responding to enquiries about our services.
  • Consent — where you submit a form voluntarily.
  • Legal obligation — where required by law.

Contact form and email

Form submissions are validated on our server, stored in our MySQL database as the primary enquiry record, and emailed to elmstreeservices@gmail.com via authenticated SMTP. We use Cloudflare Turnstile to reduce spam. Cloudflare's privacy policy applies to Turnstile processing: cloudflare.com/privacypolicy.

Cookies

Our website uses cookies for:

  • Google Analytics 4 — to understand site usage. You can opt out via your browser settings or Google's opt-out tools.
  • Cloudflare Turnstile — a spam check on our forms, used to distinguish humans from bots.

We do not use advertising cookies or third-party tracking beyond analytics and Cloudflare Turnstile.

How long we keep data

Enquiry and guide-request records (including contact details and first-party attribution) are retained for up to 24 months, or longer where needed to manage an active job or meet legal record-keeping requirements. You can ask us to delete your personal data at any time. Anonymous interaction counts are kept for up to 24 months. Analytics data is retained according to Google Analytics default settings (typically 14 months).

Your rights

Under UK GDPR you have the right to:

  • Access the personal data we hold about you.
  • Request correction of inaccurate data.
  • Request deletion of your data (subject to legal retention requirements).
  • Object to processing or request restriction.
  • Lodge a complaint with the ICO (ico.org.uk).

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at info@elmstreeservices.co.uk .

Third-party links

Our website may link to external sites (e.g. Google Maps, Google Reviews). We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those sites.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page will reflect any changes.