Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

What is a cookie?

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer by websites that you visit. They are widely used in order to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site.

How do cookies work?

A website's cookies store information on your user device, which then gets sent back to that website each time you visit. Sometimes this information is essential to access a website's functions - for example if you need to log in, a cookie will allow the website to recognise your log-in details.

Cookies can also be used to build a profile of your activity on a website - which pages you visit, how long you spend on each page. A website may then use this information to tailor the pages that you see when you visit the site in the future.

How do we use cookies?

We use cookies for two purposes:

  1. To track your 'session state' so that when you interact with our website it is able to retrieve data that is specific to you.
  2. To create statistical data about how our visitors find and use our website. This allows us to improve the performance of the website. The information we collect is anonymous, it cannot be used to identify you personally.

A list of the cookies used by this website, and their purpose, is provided below.

Can I control or delete cookies?

All recent versions of popular browsers (such as Internet Explorer, Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox) allow you to control cookies. You can set your browser to accept or reject all, or certain cookies. You might, for example, be happy to accept a cookie that allows you to log in to a website, but prefer to reject any which are used to build a profile of your internet usage. You can also set your browser to prompt you each time a cookie is offered.

For more information, you may wish to visit www.aboutcookies.org which contains comprehensive information on how to do this on a wide variety of browsers. You will also find details on how to delete cookies from your computer as well as more general information about cookies. For information on how to do this on the browser of your mobile phone you will need to refer to your handset manual.

Cookies used by our site

Essential cookies

Web site

These cookies are used to store anonymous user-specific data in order to maintain a session state for the visitor. Our site uses this data to process requests, such as submitting a Contact Us enquiry. Some functions of the site depend on these cookies and may not work properly, or at all, if they are disabled.

Name Where is it used? Typical Content Expires
shoplincoln_prod_csrf_token All pages A unique identifier for each visit to shoplincoln.co.uk, to ensure that form completions such as Newsletter Signup and Site Search are protected against spam. End of session.
shoplincoln_prod_last_activity All pages Records the time of the last page load. Used in conjunction with the last_visit cookie. 1 year.
shoplincoln_prod_last_visit All pages Date of the user's last visit. 1 year.
shoplincoln_prod_shortlist_session_id All pages A unique identifier as a guest user to associate content that you have added to your planner from visitlincoln.com. End of session.
shoplincoln_prod_stashid All pages A unique identifier for any preferences saved on the site as a guest. End of session.
shoplincoln_prod_tracker All pages Contains the last 5 pages viewed. Typically used for form or error message returns. End of session.

Performance cookies

Google Analytics

These cookies are used to identify new and returning visitors to our site, how long visitors stay on our site and how they reached our site. The results are sent to our Google Analytics account so we can understand how visitors arrive at our web site and how long they stay for. To prevent Google Analytics cookies being set, you may install the Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add-On.

Name Where is it used? Typical Content Expires
__utma All pages Created upon your first visit to our web site using a randomly generated number. This cookie is used to determine unique visitors to our web site. 2 years from set/update
__utmb All pages Created to establish your user session on our site, using a randomly generated number. When you view a page on our site, this cookie is updated to expire in 30 minutes. 30 minutes from set/update
__utmz All pages This cookie stores the way in which you reached our site, whether via a direct method, a referring link, a site search, or a campaign such as an ad or an email link. It is used to calculate search engine traffic, ad campaigns and page navigation within our site. The cookie is updated each time you view a page on our site. 6 months from set/update