Who we are
The British Continental is an independent, community-run publication covering British domestic road racing at thebritishcontinental.co.uk. It is the trading name of Denny Gray, who decides how the personal information described here is used, which makes him the “controller” under UK data protection law.
This policy covers this website and our email newsletter. The Stats Hub at stats.thebritishcontinental.co.uk has its own privacy policy, linked at the foot of every Hub page.
For any question or request about your information, email info@thebritishcontinental.co.uk. We answer requests about your rights within one month, the legal limit.
What we collect and why
We collect as little as we can. We have no advertising networks, no Google Analytics and no tracking pixels from sponsors.
When you read the site
Our host, WordPress.com (run by Automattic), records technical details of each visit: your IP address, browser and device type, the page you read, the page that sent you, and the time. We see these only as totals: how many people read each story, which countries they read from and how they found us. We never see a profile of you. Automattic keeps the IP addresses used for these statistics for about 30 days.
When you subscribe to the newsletter
We collect your email address and use it only to send you each new story. WordPress.com sends the emails for us. It tells us how many people opened each email and which links were clicked, with general details such as country, device and email app. Every email has an unsubscribe link.
When you use the contact form
We collect your name, email address and your message, and use them to reply. Before a message reaches us, Akismet, Automattic’s spam filter, checks it using your IP address, browser details and the page you came from.
When you comment
If comments are open on a story or a photo, we collect your name, email address, website if you give one, your comment and your IP address. Your name and comment are published; your email address is not. Akismet checks comments for spam. Where a picture appears beside a comment, it comes from Gravatar, a service run by Automattic: a scrambled code made from your email address is sent to Gravatar to find the picture linked to it.
When you close the subscribe pop-up
Your browser stores a small note so the pop-up does not come back for two weeks. The note stays on your device and is not sent to us.
When you click a partner’s banner
Banners for our partners are plain images linking to their websites. The link tells the partner that the visit came from The British Continental. It carries nothing about you, and we never share reader information with sponsors.
Children
The newsletter is not aimed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their details.
Our legal reasons for using your information
UK data protection law asks us to name a lawful basis for each use.
| Use | Lawful basis |
|---|---|
| Newsletter | Consent. You ask to subscribe, and you withdraw consent by unsubscribing. |
| Site statistics and keeping the site secure | Legitimate interests: understanding our readership in totals and protecting the site. |
| Replying to contact form messages | Legitimate interests: answering you. |
| Publishing comments | Legitimate interests: hosting discussion of our coverage. |
| Spam filtering | Legitimate interests: keeping spam off the site. |
| Records the law requires | Legal obligation. |
Where we rely on legitimate interests, you can object at any time (see Your rights).
Cookies
We do not use advertising or tracking cookies. An ordinary visit to the site sets no cookies from us. If you comment and tick the box to save your details, your browser keeps your name, email address and website in cookies for about a year so you need not type them again.
- The subscribe pop-up. When you close it, your browser keeps the small note described above. This is not a cookie and is never sent to us.
- WordPress.com accounts. If you are logged in to WordPress.com, Automattic sets its own cookies, explained in Automattic’s cookie policy.
- Embedded content. Some stories include content from other services: social media posts, videos, podcast players, route maps, race data, charts and photos, for example from Instagram, YouTube, Spotify, VeloViewer and FirstCycling. These load from the services themselves, which may set cookies and record your visit under their own policies.
You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. The site works without them.
Who sees your information
We do not sell, rent or trade personal information, and we never pass reader details to sponsors or partners. Ko-fi handles any tips sent through the Ko-fi links on our site, under its own privacy policy.
- Automattic, through WordPress.com, Jetpack, Akismet and Gravatar, hosts the site, sends the newsletter, produces our statistics, filters spam and serves profile photos. It handles this information on our behalf. Its privacy notice for visitors to WordPress.com sites explains what it collects.
- The services whose content we embed receive information when you view a story that embeds their content.
- Social networks. Our share buttons are plain links. Nothing is sent to a network unless you click its button, and then its own policy applies.
- Our team. Only the volunteers who need to, such as the editor answering contact messages, see what you send us.
- The law. We would disclose information if the law required it.
Information leaving the UK
Automattic is based in the United States and stores data there and in other countries. When your information leaves the UK, Automattic protects it with safeguards recognised under UK law, set out in Automattic’s data processing terms. The embedded services above may also handle information outside the UK under their own safeguards.
How long we keep it
| Information | How long |
|---|---|
| Newsletter email address | Until you unsubscribe |
| Contact form messages | Up to two years after our last exchange, unless the conversation is ongoing |
| Comments, with the email and IP address behind them | As long as the comment stays published |
| IP addresses used for statistics | About 30 days, kept by Automattic |
| Statistics in totals | Indefinitely, as they do not identify anyone |
Your rights
You have the right to:
- see the information we hold about you
- have it corrected if it is wrong
- have it deleted
- limit how we use it
- object to our using it, including where we rely on legitimate interests
- receive a copy in a format you can take elsewhere
- withdraw your consent to the newsletter at any time, by unsubscribing or emailing us
To use any of these rights, email info@thebritishcontinental.co.uk. It is free, and we reply within one month. Some rights are limited for journalism, as the next section explains.
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, please tell us first so we can put it right. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or on 0303 123 1113.
People we write about
Our journalism names riders, teams, organisers and others in British racing. We publish results, rankings, photographs, quotes and comment, including about junior riders.
UK data protection law contains an exemption for journalism (Data Protection Act 2018, Schedule 2, Part 5). It can limit some of the rights above where applying them would be incompatible with publishing journalism in the public interest. We do not use it lightly.
We follow the IPSO Editors’ Code of Practice as our guide, although we are not regulated by IPSO. We correct errors promptly. For features and interviews with riders under 16, we ask a parent or guardian for consent.
If you think something we have published about you is wrong, or you have a concern about how you appear in our coverage, email info@thebritishcontinental.co.uk and we will look at it promptly.
Changes to this policy
We will update this page whenever what we collect changes, for example when supporter membership opens. We will tell newsletter subscribers about any significant change.
Last updated: 1 November 2026.