Privacy policy
By submitting your details to us via this website, you are deemed to have accepted our use of your personal information.
The data controller for this website is the Rail Passengers Council, operating under the name 'Passenger Focus'.
What information we collect from you when you visit this site
We collect personal information from you if you email us with consumer enquiries and complaints about rail journeys, with comments and complaints about the Passenger Focus service and with feedback on the site.
Information collected may include personal details such as names and addresses, email addresses and details of individual queries. In addition, we collect information on the usage of the site itself. This usage information will not identify you individually and is stored and processed in aggregate and will not allow the identification of individual users.
Please note that you are not required to provide your personal details to use the Passenger Focus website, though if you choose not to this may limit the extent to which you can use the site.
How we protect your privacy
Any personal information you provide will be held securely by Passenger Focus in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. This Act protects your personal information and ensures that
• we only hold and process your information for purposes that we make clear to you in advance
• we keep your information only for as long as we need to carry out these purposes
• we will put in place appropriate measures that ensure your information is held and processed securely and confidentially
How we use the information
Passenger enquiries and complaints
If you email us with a passenger enquiry or complaint, we will use the information you have provided to advise you on your rights as a passenger, on how to avoid problems and how to address any problems you may have encountered.
We may need to pass information you have provided to a service provider (normally a train operator) or to the London Transport Users’ Committee operating as London TravelWatch to address a problem you have encountered. We will hold details of your enquiry or complaint for three years.
Comments and complaints about us
If you have a comment on the service you have received - good or bad - we will use the information you provide to help us maintain and enhance our service to all our customers. We will hold details of your comments for three years.
If you have a complaint about Passenger Focus itself, we will use the information you provide to investigate your complaint. If your original enquiry or complaint was passed on to a partner organisation, we may also need to pass details of your complaint to them to help them investigate your complaint further. We will hold details of your complaint for three years.
Feedback
We welcome your feedback. If you provide feedback on our website through our on-line form we will only use this information to develop and improve the site. We may hold details of your feedback for up to one year.
Cookies and visitor statistics
Cookies are files that a website can store on your computer when you visit the website. These files contain information about your use of a website and may contain personal details. This site uses cookies to gather statistics on visitors' use of the site.
We will use this information to make improvements to the layout of the site and to the information in it, based on the way that visitors enter, move around and leave the site.
If you wish to see the information we hold about you
You have a right to request a copy of your personal details at any time to check the accuracy of the information held by us.
If you wish to do this, please write (explaining that your interest is in personal data maintained by Passenger Focus) to the address below.
The Data Protection Officer
Passenger Focus
Freepost WA1521
Warrington
WA4 6GP
Links to other sites
Our website contains links to external websites, mainly those of train operating companies, but also those of other organisations. This privacy policy applies only to our website.
We are not responsible for the privacy practices of external sites. You should always be aware of this when you leave our site and we encourage you to read the privacy statement on any other website which collects personal information.
Changes to this privacy policy
When this privacy policy changes, we will update this page. Please check back regularly so that you are aware of the information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances, if any, we will share it with other parties.
You should always check the privacy policy before using the site, even if you have visited it in the past. This ensures that you will be aware of any changes. Changes to our privacy policy do not affect information we already hold about you.