Cookies

1. What cookies are

A cookie is a small file a website asks your browser to keep. Similar technologies, such as local storage and tracking pixels, do much the same job. This page covers all of them. Under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations we need your consent before setting anything that is not strictly necessary for the site to work.

2. What we use today

This is a single page announcing a practice that has not opened. It sets one strictly necessary item, which remembers the choice you made in the cookie banner so we do not ask again on every visit. That item is exempt from consent, because without it we could not honour your decision.

rv-cookie-consent

Set by us, in your browser's local storage. Records whether you accepted or declined optional cookies. Kept for 12 months, then we ask again.

3. What we will use if you accept

None of the following runs while the banner shows "essential only". We measured every item and every duration below on this site on 21 September 2026, reading them out of the browser rather than copying them from the suppliers' documentation, and we re-check them whenever the site changes. Where something is kept in your browser's local storage rather than as a cookie we say so.

Analytics, Google Analytics 4

Counts visits and shows which sections people read, so we know what to build next. Sets _ga and _ga_BY8JFV1JRS, both measured at 400 days, which is about 13 months. Google asks for two years; current browsers will not store a cookie set this way for longer than 400 days, and some keep it for less. IP addresses are truncated and we do not use Google Signals or ad personalisation.

Advertising, Google Ads

Tells us which of our adverts brought someone to the site and which of those visits led to a registration. Google's conversion linker stores _gcl_au as a cookie, measured at 90 days, and _gcl_ls in your browser's local storage. Both are set by us on our own domain, and they exist so that a click on one of our adverts can be matched to what happens here afterwards.

Marketing, Meta pixel

Tells us whether our Facebook and Instagram posts bring people to the site. Sets _fbp, measured at 90 days, and stores lastExternalReferrer and lastExternalReferrerTime in your browser's local storage. Meta may also set fr on its own domain.

Three of those are local storage rather than cookies, which matters because local storage carries no expiry date of its own and would otherwise stay until something removed it. Changing your choice back to "essential only" does two things: it stops anything further being collected, and it deletes everything listed above from your device straight away, local storage included. The one exception is fr, which Meta sets on its own domain rather than ours, so we have no way to remove it for you; section 5 explains how to clear it yourself. Declining has no effect on anything you can do here. The registration form works either way.

4. Other things the site loads

Our registration form is handled by Forminit, which receives the IP address a submission was sent from and uses it to work out an approximate location, reads your browser and operating system from your user agent, and records the page you submitted from; it shows us all of that alongside your message, and may keep it as part of its spam controls. Nothing is sent to Forminit unless you submit the form, and it does not set a cookie on your device. Google Tag Manager loads on every page, before you answer the banner, and it is the tool we use to switch the items in section 3 on and off according to your choice; it stores nothing on your device, but loading it sends your IP address and browser details to Google. Our hosting provider keeps standard server logs for security. Following a link to Instagram or Facebook takes you to their sites, where their own cookie notices apply.

5. Controlling cookies yourself

Use the button at the top of this page, or "Cookie settings" in the footer of any page, to change what you have agreed to at any time. Going back to essential only also deletes what was stored while you were opted in, as described in section 3. You can also clear or block cookies and site data in your browser settings, which is what removes anything set on another company's domain, and most browsers let you refuse them entirely. Blocking everything may stop parts of other websites working normally. The Information Commissioner's Office publishes plain guidance on cookies and how to manage them.

6. Changes and questions

When we add a cookie we will list it here and ask for consent again. For anything about this page, or to exercise a data protection right, email hello@riverviewvets.co.uk. Our privacy policy explains what we do with the rest of your information.