Privacy Statement

Travelcare is committed to ensuring our site is absolutely secure for you to book and pay for your holiday or flight 'on-line' where this facility is available on our site. We are also committed to protecting the privacy of your personal information.

References on this Web Site to "we", "our" and "us" are references to Travelcare.

Travelcare Security Policy

At Travelcare we take security very seriously, and we have implemented a bank approved encryption system to protect your 'on-line' transactions with us.

How do we make sure that others do not have access to your credit card information?

Credit/debit card payments will automatically be encrypted using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). This technology ensures that your credit/debit card numbers are not accessible by any unauthorised persons and are as safe as possible. This means the credit and debit card numbers are securely processed into code when sent to us. Only the scrambled encoded data is then sent over the Internet, which Travelcare receives and decodes.

Furthermore, as required by the UK Data Protection Act of 1998, we follow strict security procedures in the storage and disclosure of information that you have given us, to prevent unauthorised access. Our security procedures mean that we may occasionally request proof of identity before we are able to disclose sensitive information to you. We absolutely retain the right to refuse any booking made via our site.

You will see a padlock symbol at the bottom of your screen and the letter "s" after the word http in our web site name showing in your browser window when you are entering the secure area of the site.

Security Guarantee

1. In the very unlikely event that your card is used fraudulently, your bank or card issuer cannot hold you liable for more than £50.00 of fraudulent charges. If your bank or card issuer does hold you liable for any of the £50.00. Travelcare will cover the entire liability for you, up to the full £50.00. Travelcare will cover this liability only if the unauthorised use of your credit or debit card resulted through no fault of your own from purchases made at Travelcare while using the secure server.

2. In the event of unauthorised use of your credit or debit card, you must notify your credit or debit card issuer in accordance with its reporting rules and procedures.

With the above measures, we ensure that you will have peace of mind when booking your travel with us. Travelcare aims to make online shopping secure fun and hassle free.

Do you need more reassurance?

If you need more reassurance about our security policy and its implications, contact our internet department who are ready to help with any misgivings or questions you may have. Please call them on 0870 112 0101

What information do we monitor from you?

When you browse the site the only way we can obtain any kind of personal information is if you submit it to us voluntarily.

Travelcare requires that you supply personal information, including an e-mail address when making a booking or when wishing to join our e-mail offer service.

When you book travel from our site, we need to know your name, email address, ticket delivery address, credit or debit card number and expiry date. This allows us to process and fulfill your order, and to notify you of your order status and the whereabouts of your tickets. We also ask for your telephone number that enables us to contact you urgently if there is a problem with your booking.

Where the facility is offered you are responsible for keeping safe any password that you select to use the Travelcare web site. Thus, please be careful when using the password.

We do employ cookies (download of files to your PC to record your visits to the site) to measure site usage and related information.

How is your personal information used to benefit you?

This information is used to communicate with you, to understand your travel needs and to offer future relevant products and services to meet your needs.

What do we do with your personal information?

We will process any information you give us in accordance with the UK Data Protection Act of 1988, this privacy policy (detailed below) and our security policy.

Travelcare is the travel business of the Co-operative Group Ltd. We collect personal information (data) from customers at the time of their booking or enquiry. Information about you and your travelling party will be held on the computers (and in other ways) of the Co-operative Group Ltd. The following explains how Travelcare handles your data and when we will disclose personal information.

Booking your travel arrangements or checking availability.

We need to process and pass information to tour operators and sub contractors, e.g. airlines. We may pass sensitive personal information to suppliers to cater for special needs, e.g. wheelchair assistance. Your data may be processed within the United Kingdom or overseas. Data transfered outside the European Economic Area may not be subject to the same high standards of data protection legislation.

Supplying Insurance cover.

We will need to pass your personal information to the insurer to arrange cover.

Information about products and services.

We will never sell your details to third parties for marketing purposes. We may transfer information to businesses within our group and other co-operative organisations to keep you informed about their products. You may opt out of receiving marketing information by advising a member of staff when making your booking.

Prevention of fraud, debt tracing and collecting monies.

We may use the data you provide for the purposes of financial control and debt recovery through outside agencies.

Business Administration

We may use the information you provide for the purposes of administration, customer service, business management, market research and analysis. We may monitor and/or record telephone conversations for security purposes and to improve customer service levels.

Prevention of crime.

We may provide your information to the public authorities, such as the police, customs and immigration if required by them or as required by law.

By making a booking with Travelcare you are accepting on on behalf of yourself and your party that you consent to the uses, transmission and disclosure of information as described, irrespective of the levels of the data protection provided in any particular country, and understand that this is at your own risk. You have given explicit consent on behalf of your party to provide Travelcare with their information and allow processing of the data.

The information you supply will be held and used by Co-operative Group Ltd, in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act for the purposes of administration, statistical and business analysis and marketing. We will never sell your details to third parties for marketing purposes. However, we may transfer this information to our subsidiaries and other co-operative organisations to keep you informed of products and services that may be of interest to you. If you would prefer not to receive any offers or marketing information about products and services, please contact us on 0870 112 0101 or alternatively write to us (at the address detailed) and we will correct them as soon as possible.

We may use visitor information to measure the entry and exit points of visitors to the site and respective numbers of visitors to various pages and sections of the site and details of searches performed. We may also use this information in the future to measure the usage of advertising banners, and other click throughs from and to the site.

We have security processes in place to ensure that our customers' data that is held on a central database and is not accessible by any unauthorised persons. However, persons such as IT systems suppliers may need to have access to the system from time to time.

We do not rent or sell our customer lists to any organisation or individual. We may however use the lists to process customer information and research our customers' needs and preferences.

Visitors to the site who subscribe to our e-mail service or visitors purchasing products on the site who have not opted out from receiving promotional emails, may receive promotional mailings and e-mails from Travelcare on behalf of our travel partners.

Travelcare will provide a summary of any personal information held upon request. This information will only be sent to the e-mail address on file for the subscriber name associated with it

* Links to other website's and Principle Clause

Travelcare, its contractors, agents, owners, and employees cannot accept responsibility for the content or the privacy policies of web sites to which it may link and in all cases it should be know that Travelcare acts as agent and not principle for any holidays or flights it provides.

Changing Your Personal Information
If you believe that we are storing details relating to you and that these are incorrect or you wish to change or remove them, please contact us on 0870 112 0101 or alternatively write to us and we will correct them as soon as possible.


Travelcare
E-commerce Department
2nd Floor
The Co-operative Group
Hanover Building
Hanover Street
Manchester
M60 0AD


Any future changes to our Privacy Policy

If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes on this page so that you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances we disclose it.

Finally, Travelcare advises that you always check the terms and conditions relating to this website.