Thames Valley Group of Advanced Motorists (TVGAM) Privacy Notice
Who we are
TVGAM is an independent registered UK road safety charity, affiliated to the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM RoadSmart), as part of their support for Associate Members preparing for the advanced test. We help to improve driver and rider skills through coaching and education.
TVGAM is run by volunteers who are a unique resource for IAM RoadSmart, with unparalleled experience and expertise. We also provide a social focus, meeting and enjoying the company of fellow driving and motorcycling enthusiasts.
TVGAM acts as the data controller/data processor when collecting and processing your data.
This Privacy Notice covers TVGAM in relation to the collection and use of the information you give us. We may change this Policy from time to time. If we make any significant changes, we will advertise this on our website or contact you directly with the information. Please check this page occasionally to make sure you are happy with any changes.
If you have any questions about this Notice or concerning your personal information, please contact us using the details provided at the bottom of this Notice.
Our basis for collecting your personal information and what we use it for
TVGAM aims to be very clear when we collect your personal data and will not do anything you wouldn’t reasonably expect in order to provide the products and/or services that you request, to communicate with you, and to personalise our information we send to you.
Under the Data Protection Legislation, we must always have a lawful basis for using personal data. The following table describes how we may use your personal data, and our lawful basis for doing so:
| What We Do | What Data We Use | Our Lawful Basis |
| Arrange and manage your Advanced Course (our obligation arising from your purchase via IAM RoadSmart) | Name Email address Telephone number | Contractual, as a direct means of communication with Group Members and Associates |
| Management of your Group membership | Name Email address Telephone number | Contractual, as a direct means of communication with Group Members and Associates |
| Managing payments for your Group Membership | Name Email address Telephone number | Contractual, as a direct means of communication with Group Members and Associates |
| Communicating with you by email and post and text | Name Email address Postal address Telephone number | Contractual, as a direct means of communication with Group Members and Associates |
| Supplying you with information by email and post that you have opted-in-to (MailChimp – TVGAM News) | Name Email address Postal address Telephone number | Contractual: Consent You may opt out at any time by contacting us |
We use your information to:
▪ Arrange and manage your Advanced Course (our obligation arising from your purchase via IAM RoadSmart)
▪ Management of your Group membership
▪ See “What We Do” in the above table
Unless previously notified by you, pictures, videos and written updates of TVGAM events and activities at which you may be in attendance, or referred to by name, may also be regularly published on social media sites, in group newsletters/magazines and on Group related websites.
What type of information we collect and how we use your information
We will use your personal information in a number of ways which reflect the legal basis applying to the processing of your data, to enable us to contact you in relation to an enquiry you have made, Group events and to manage your membership.
The personal data that we access from the IAM RoadSmart database is:
• Title / Salutation
• Name
• Email address
• Postal address
• Telephone number
Special category data
We do not collect any special category data from the IAM RoadSmart database.
If you provide us with bank, credit or debit card details in order to pay for Membership subscriptions, we will keep such details only for as long as necessary to complete the transaction.
We may ask for additional information from you in order to deliver the specific product or service purchased.
As required by the UK General Data Protection Regulation, we follow strict security procedures in the storage and disclosure of information you have provided to us. You have the right to object to this processing. Please bear in mind that if you object this may affect our ability to deliver the products and services you have requested.
Disclosure of information to third parties
IAM RoadSmart will not share your details to third parties except:
a) where we have your permission
b) where we are required to deliver your product or service
c) where we are required by law and by law enforcement agencies, judicial bodies, government entities, tax authorities or regulatory bodies around the world
Third parties may deliver some of our products to you or provide all or part of the service requested by you. In these instances, whilst the information you provide will be disclosed to them, it will be kept secure, it will only be used for the administration of the service provided and to maintain management information for business analysis. In order to deliver these products and services, IAM RoadSmart may utilise the following third parties:
| 3rd Party Services | Information shared and reason for doing so |
| IAM RoadSmart | TVGAM may pass on your details to IAM RoadSmart for the administration of the service. |
| HMRC | For Gift Aid reasons if applicable. |
| MailChimp | For Newsletter distribution purposes. |
| MailChimp | For SMS communications. |
We may also disclose your personal information if we are required to do so under any legal obligation and may use external data for the purposes of fraud prevention and credit risk reduction, or where doing so would not infringe your rights, but is necessary and in the public interest.
If we provide information to a third party (either a provider of a product or service, or an external data processing agency such as a mailing house) we will exercise the strictest control over the third party contractually, requiring it and any of its agents and/or suppliers to:
• Carry out their obligations under the terms of the contract
• Restrict communication of the data to nominated officials
In addition, we will restrict the information disclosed to the absolute minimum necessary, for example, to provide the product or service.
Marketing
Marketing communications take the form of Newsletters, social media posts and Meeting reminders.
You can unsubscribe from Newsletters and Meeting reminders by emailing info@tvgam.org.uk
You can abstain from or delete social media posts.
How we use cookies
“Cookies” are small pieces of information sent by a web server to a web browser, which enables the server to collect information from the browser.
When you visit a site that uses cookies for the first time, a cookie is downloaded onto your computer/mobile device so that the next time you visit that site, your device will remember useful information such as items added in the shopping cart, visited pages or logging in options.
The common Cookies TVGAM utilise are as follows:
| Cookie Name | Duration | Purpose | Logged-in users only? |
| wordpress_{hash} | Session | Authentication flag cookie for logged-in users | Yes |
| wordpress_logged_in_{hash} | Session | Persists user log-in for the duration of session | Yes |
| wordpress_test_cookie | Session | Provisional cookie created and then deleted on navigating to the page to check whether user’s browser can use cookies or not. | No |
| wpEmojiSettingsSupports | Session | Determines whether browser can use emojis when writing or reading text | No |
You may refuse to accept cookies by activating the setting on your browser which allows you to block cookies. However, if you select this setting you may be unable to access certain parts of our site, including services and on-line shopping. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you log on to our site. Details of how to disable the Cookie function can be found at the help menu on your browser.ou log on to our site. Details of how to disable the Cookie function can be found at the help menu on your browser.
How we use Google Analytics
We do not use Google Analytics.
How long do we keep your information
We will hold your personal information for as long as it is necessary for the relevant activity. By way of example, we hold records of payment you make for at least six years so we can fulfil our statutory obligations for tax purposes.
We may retain information after your association with us has come to an end. Some information may be retained indefinitely for historical, statistical or research purposes. As stated below, you have the right to require us to erase personal data.
Your rights
Under the Data Protection Legislation, you have the following rights, which we will always work to uphold:
• the right to be informed about the collection and use of your personal data
• the right to access the information we hold about you
• the right to have your personal data rectified if any of your personal data held by us is inaccurate or incomplete
• the right to have the information we hold about you erased
• the right to restrict or suppress your personal information
• the right to obtain and reuse your personal data for your own purpose
• the right to object to the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances
Please note that:
In some cases, exercising these rights may mean that we are no longer able to provide you with our products and services.
We will not administer requests by a third party unless accompanied by evidence that the third party is entitled to act on behalf of the individual.
Please also note that the above rights are not absolute and we may be entitled to refuse requests where exceptions apply.
Security
Your data is considered to be an important asset to us and, as such, we make reasonable effort to ensure the necessary measures are in place to prevent unauthorised or inappropriate access, use, modification, disclosure or destruction.
Measures we take to keep your data secure include, but are not limited to:
• protecting file servers and workstations with virus scanning software
• using a system of passwords so that access to data is restricted
• allowing only authorised staff into certain databases
• using data encryption techniques to code data when in transit
• ensuring that Officials of the Group are only given sufficient rights to any systems to enable them to perform their job function.
Changes to this policy and contacts
Changes to this Privacy Notice
This Notice may be changed from time to time. If we make any significant changes we will advertise this on our website or contact you directly with the information.
Do please check this Policy each time you consider giving your personal information to us.
Contact us
Please contact us if you have any questions about our privacy policy or information we hold about you:
• In writing to: The Secretary, 48 Clements Mead, Tilehurst, Reading, RG31 5UJ.
• Via email to: info@tvgam.org.uk
This Policy was last updated on 5th October 2024