Privacy policy

A note before you read.

We wrote this policy in plain English because we think you deserve to actually understand it; not just have access to a document. If we have to use a legal term, we will explain what it means straight away.
If you have any questions, email us at privacy@laronkarn.co.uk. We will reply within two working days.

1. Who are we?

Laronkarn is a trading name of Laronkarn Limited, a company registered in England and Wales.
Company name: Laronkarn Limited
Registered office: Mainswood, Putley Common, Ledbury, Herefordshire, HR8 2RF, United Kingdom
Malvern office: Chartwell House, 38 Church street, Malvern, Worcestershire, WR14 2AZ, United Kingdom
Company number: 01347513
VAT registration number: GB 242 4506 86
ICO registration number: ZB052411
Privacy contact: privacy@laronkarn.co.uk

Under data protection law, Laronkarn Limited is the data controller for personal information described in this policy. “Data controller” is the legal term for the company that decides how your personal data is used and is responsible for keeping it safe. That is us.

2. What this policy covers

This policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, what we do with it, and what rights you have over it.
It covers the use of our website and all enquiries or orders you may place with us.
It does not cover other websites we may link to. If you follow a link to another side, their privacy policy applies there, not ours.

3. What information we collect and why

We only collect information we actually need. Here is everything, explained honestly.
In the section below, “legal basis” is to be understood as the legal reason we need to collect this data.

Your name, email address, and telephone number
When you contact us, place and order or an enquiry through our website, by email or telephone, we will collect your first name, last name, email address and telephone number.
We need this information to reply to your enquiry and/or ship the goods you have ordered from us.
Legal basis: (contact & enquiries) “Legitimate Interest”; replying to a contact you have initiated is a legitimate reason for us to collection this information.
(orders) “Performance of Contract” and “Legal Obligation”; we need this data to perform the contract you created with us. We are also obligated to keep this information as part of our financial records under UK law.

Your shipping and/or billing address
When you order goods from us, we need to collect your postal address for shipping and billing so that we can ship the goods and establish an invoice
Legal basis: “Performance of Contract”; we need to be able to ship the goods to you. “Legal Obligation”; UK law requires that tax invoices mention the billing address of the person/company that bought the goods.

Professional certificates
Under the Plant Protection Products (Sustainable Use) Regulations and the Official Controls (Plant Protection Products) Regulations 2020, we are legally banned from selling professional-grade plant protection products to anyone who cannot prove they are qualified to use them.
To comply with this duty, if you order professional-grade products from us, we will collect, verify and process the following professional credentials:
– Your Pesticide Certificate of Competence (e.g. City & Guilds NPTC or Lantra qualifications).
– Your Professional Membership Status, including unique membership details from the National Register of Sprayer Operators (NROSO) or the National Amenity Spray Operator Register (NASOR).
Legal basis: “Legal Obligation”; Under UK law, we cannot fulfil your order or complete a sale for professional PPP unless these details are provided and successfully verified.

Business details
We will collect your VAT registration number, and Company registration number. These are personal data only if you operate as a sole-trader or equivalent in your jurisdiction.
Legal basis: “Legal Obligation”; VAT compliance is a legal requirement that we cannot avoid.

Content of order
We collect, process and store the list of items and product you order from us. We do this to manage your order and our inventory, because we are required to keep financial records of all our sales, and because we are required to keep track and inventory of all Plant Protection Products.
Legal basis: “Legal Obligation” & “Performance of Contract”; UK law requires us to keep financial records and PPP regulation requires us to keep track of PPP products sold. We also need to collect this to be able to provide the goods to you.

Enquiries through our website
When you contact us or send an enquiry through the form on our website, we will collect your first name, last name, email address, IP address, and – optionally – your telephone number.
We collect your name, email and telephone so that we can respond to your enquiry. We collect your IP address to protect our system from abuse and spam.
Legal basis: “Legitimate interest”; replying to a contact you have initiated and protecting our system from attacks are a legitimate reason for us to collect this information.

Technical information
When you the enquiry form on our website, our server automatically record certain technical information: your IP address (a number that identifies your internet connection), the date and time of access, and the particulars of your request.
We use this to keep the service secure, to detect attacks or unusual activity, and to diagnose technical problems. We keep server logs for 30 days and then delete them.
We also transmit some of that information to our staff so that they can process your enquiry
Legal basis:“Legitimate interest” Keeping the service secure is a legitimate reason to collect this data.

Support messages
If you contact us for help, we keep a record of the conversation so we can resolve your issue and learn from common problems. We delete support records after two years.
Legal basis: “Legitimate interest”

4. Who we share your data with

We share your data with as few people as possible. Here is the complete list.

Associated companies
Laronkarn Limited works closely with Putley Services Limited and Sphere Laboratories (London) Limited, which are under common ownership and management.
Where it is necessary to run the business – for example to handle orders, manufacturing, laboratory work, supply, delivery, invoicing, or regulatory and product-stewardship matters – personal information may be shared between these three companies. Each company is responsible for the information it holds and uses it only for the purposes described in this policy or for compatible purposes.

Distributors and resellers
Where our products are sold or supplied through a distributor or reseller, we may share the contact, order and delivery information needed to fulfil and support that order.

Shipping, freight and courier companies
We share delivery names, addresses, contact details (telephone number and email) and delivery instructions with the carriers and freight companies used to transport and deliver orders.

IT and hosting providers
Our website, email and servers are hosted by Hetzner Online, a German company that stores data on our behalf under a data-processing agreement. Hetzner is certified to DIN ISO/IEC 27001:2022. Its privacy policy is at https://www.hetzner.com/legal/privacy-policy

Our staff and professional advisors
Occasionally our employees or professional advisors (such as our accountant, solicitor or IT support team) may need to access account-level data to do their jobs. They are bound by strict confidentiality obligations and can only access what they need.

Regulators and authorities, if legally required
We may disclose information where we are required to do so by law, court order, or a lawful request from a public authority, including law enforcement and HM Revenue & Customs.
Because we deal in plant protection products, we may also need to share information with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) – which, through its Chemicals Regulation Division, is the authority responsible for plant protection products in Great Britain – and with other bodies involved in product safety or incident investigation. In particular:
– Where HSE or another authority investigates and incident, complaint or suspected non-compliance involving one of our products, we may be required to provide relavant records, correspondence, information or product samples. This can include personal information contained in an incident report or enquiry, such as the details of the person who reported it or of anyone said to have been affected.
– As an authorisation holder, we are also under a legal duty to notify HSE, without undue delay, of new information about adverse or potentially dangerous effects of our products on people, animals, groundwater or the environment. Such a notification may include personal information relevant to an incident.
– Depending on the nature of the incident, information may also be shared with related bodies such as the Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme (which investigates suspected pesticide poisoning of wildlife, livestock and pets), the relevant environment agency, a poisons information service, or the relevant local authority. Equivalent authorities apply in Northern Ireland.
We disclose only what is necessary, and only where we are legally required or permitted to do so.

Nobody else
We do not sell your data. We do not share it with advertisers. We do not share it with data brokers or marketing companies.

5. Advertising

Laronkarn has no adverts on its website. We do not use advertising networks, tracking pixels, or any tools associated with behavioural advertising. We have no financial relationship with any advertiser. To be clear by this, we mean that we are not paid by advertiser but we do pay to advertise our products.

6. Cookies

A cookie is a small piece of text that a website stores on our device to remember something about you.
We do not use Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, or any other third-party tracking or advertising cookies.

Because we do not use cookies, we do not need to show you a cookie consent banner for these. Disabling cookies in your browser will not impact your experience on our website.

If you click a link in one of our emails, we may use an encrypted identifier to understand whether our emails are useful. The identifier is only used by us and is not shared with anyone.

7. How long we keep your data

What	How long
Your name, email, telephone, IP and address	Up to 2 years from your last order or enquiry with us
Your business details, certificates and memberships	Up to 2 years from your last order or enquiry with us
Financial records	7 years – UK law requires this for accounting records.
Server logs	30 days
Audit records	1 year
Support conversations	2 years

Even after we delete your data, it may remain in encrypted backups for a short period before those backups cycle out. It is still encrypted and cannot be read. We apply strict access controls to backup data.

8. Your rights

Under UK data protection law you have the following rights. Most of these you can exercise directly from your account settings, without needing to contact us.

Right to see your data: You can request a copy of everything we hold about you. We will provide it within one month, free of charge.

Right to correct your data: If we have something wrong, you can ask us to fix it.

Right to delete your data: You can request to delete your data by email at privacy@laronkarn.co.uk. We will keep financial records for 7 years as required by law. We are not legally allowed to delete or amend the invoices we have issued to you.

Right to restrict how we use your data: In certain circumstances you can ask us to stop using your data while you raise a concern. It may prevent us from providing goods and service to you.

Right to object: If we are using your data based on our legitimate interests, you can object. We will stop unless we have a compelling reason to continue.

No automated decisions: We do not make any automated decisions about you that have legal or significant effects on you.

To exercise any of these rights, email privacy@laronkarn.co.uk. We will respond within one month. We may need to verify your identity first.

9. If something goes wrong

If we ever have a data breach that is likely to affect your rights (for example, if data were accessed by someone who should not have it) we are required by law to report it to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) within 72 hours of finding out about it. If the breach poses a significant risk to you directly, we will also contact you as quickly as possible.

If you suspect any misuse of your data, please contact us at privacy@laronkarn.co.uk immediately.

10. How to complain

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data, please email us first at privacy@laronkarn.co.uk. We would like the chance to put it right.

If you are still not satisfied, you can complain to the ICO
Website: ico.org.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)3031 231 113
Post: ICO, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, SK9 5AF, United Kingdom

If you are in the EU, you can also complain to your local data protection authority. A directory is at https://edpb.europa.eu.

11. If Laronkarn is sold or transferred

If Laronkarn Limited is sold or merged with another company, your data may be transferred to the new owner as part of that process. If this happens, the new owner will only be permitted to use your data for the same purposes described in this policy. We will notify you before any such transfer takes place and will require the acquirer to maintain privacy protections no less strong than this policy.

12. Changes to this policy

If we make significant changes to this policy, we will email you before the changes take effect. Minor changes (like correcting a typo or adding a new subprocessor that does not change how your data is used) will be reflected in the updated date at the top without direct notification.

Previous versions of this policy are available on request.

13. The legal bits we have to include

The following clauses are required by law or are standard legal protections. We are including them in plain English where possible.

Severability: If any part of this policy is found to be unenforceable by a court, the rest of it remains in force.

No waiver: If we do not immediately enforce a right under this policy, that does not mean we have given it up.

Governing law: This policy is governed by the laws of England and Wales. Any disputes will be resolved in the courts of England and Wales.

Transfer of rights: You cannot transfer your rights under this policy to someone else. We can transfer our obligations, but only if your rights are not affected.

14. Contact us

Email: privacy@laronkarn.co.uk
Post: Laronkarn Limited, Mainswood, Putley Common, Ledbury, Herefordshire, HR8 2RF, United Kingdom

Laronkarn Limited is a private limited company registered in England and Wales.
Company number: 01347513
VAT number: GB242450686
ICO number: ZB052411