Privacy and consent
How we use and protect personal information
What we collect, why we collect it, who sees it, how long we keep it and the rights you have.
- Version
- 4.1
- In force from
- 1 June 2026
- Published
- 18 May 2026
This document was updated on 18 May 2026
Added a dedicated section on special-category data, shortened the retention period for uploaded documents from 24 to 12 months, and named our payment provider's role explicitly.
What this document explains
- What information we collect, and when
- Why we collect it and the lawful basis for each purpose
- Who it may be shared with, including suppliers abroad
- How long we keep it, by type
- The rights you have and how to use them
- How to contact us or complain about privacy
This summary is here to help you find your way around. It does not replace the full wording below, which is what applies.
1. Who we are
Global Tamil Travel Ltd is a company registered in England and Wales, operating from Unit 4, Chandos House, 42 Romford Road, London E7 9HZ. We are the data controller for the personal information described in this policy.
For any question about this policy or about the information we hold, write to privacy@globaltamiltravel.co.uk or to the postal address above marked for the attention of the data lead.
2. What we collect
- Account and contact details
- Name, email address, telephone and WhatsApp numbers, postal address and the password you set, where you choose to create an account.
- Booking and passenger details
- The names, dates of birth and nationalities of everyone travelling, room arrangements, joining points and the reference of each booking.
- Travel documents
- Passport details and images, visas and travel insurance certificates, where the journey requires them.
- Payment records
- Amounts, dates, methods and the reference of each transaction. We never receive or store your full card number.
- Communications
- Emails, in-account messages, support conversations and notes made by our team when we speak to you.
- Special-category data
- Health, dietary, allergy and accessibility information, but only where you provide it and only for a specific journey. This is covered in section 5.
- Website usage
- Pages viewed and general device information, collected through cookies only where you have permitted it. See our cookie policy.
3. Why we collect it, and our lawful basis
| Purpose | Lawful basis | What this covers |
|---|---|---|
| Managing your booking | Performance of a contract | Taking the booking, issuing tickets, arranging rooms and transport, and communicating about the journey |
| Taking payment | Performance of a contract | Processing payments, balances and refunds through our payment provider |
| Meeting legal obligations | Legal obligation | Keeping financial records, and providing passenger information where a carrier or authority requires it |
| Looking after you while travelling | Vital interests, or explicit consent | Acting on health or accessibility information you have given us, including in an emergency |
| Improving what we do | Legitimate interests | Reviewing feedback and operational records so departures run better. You can object to this at any time |
| Optional marketing | Consent | Sending you news of new journeys, only where you have asked for it, and only until you say stop |
4. Payments
Card payments are taken through our payment provider using their own hosted fields. Your card number, expiry date and security code are entered directly with them and never pass through or rest on our systems. We receive only the amount, the date, the method, the last four digits and whether the payment succeeded.
This means we cannot read your card number back to you, and nobody from Global Tamil Travel will ever ask you to send card details by email, WhatsApp or over the telephone.
5. Health, dietary and accessibility information
Some information — health conditions, allergies, dietary requirements and accessibility needs — is treated as special-category data under UK data protection law and is handled more carefully than the rest.
- We ask for it only where it affects how we look after you on a specific journey.
- It is recorded against that one booking. We do not copy it to your profile or to a later booking, even for the same person.
- It is visible only to the coordinators working on that departure, and to a supplier who needs it to do their job — a hotel arranging an adapted room, or an airline booking assistance.
- It is deleted twelve months after you travel.
- It is never used for marketing, profiling or pricing.
6. Who we share information with
- Airlines, coach operators, hotels and local partners, with the minimum needed to deliver your journey.
- Our payment provider, to take payment and issue refunds.
- Our technology suppliers, who host the website and send our email, under written contracts limiting what they may do with it.
- Authorities, where the law or a carrier requires passenger information.
- Insurers or legal advisers, where a claim or a dispute makes it necessary.
We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it with anyone for their own marketing.
7. Information sent outside the UK
Where a journey takes place outside the UK, delivering it necessarily involves sending some information to suppliers in that country — a hotel needs a rooming list, an airline needs passenger names. Where that country is not covered by UK adequacy regulations we rely on standard contractual clauses or, where the transfer is strictly necessary to perform your booking, on the contractual necessity exemption.
8. How long we keep it
| Information | Kept for | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Booking and payment records | 6 years from the end of the financial year | Tax and consumer-protection law |
| Uploaded documents, including passport images | 12 months after travel | No longer needed once the journey is complete |
| Health, dietary and accessibility information | 12 months after travel | Tied to one journey only |
| Account profile and saved travellers | Until you delete them, or 3 years of inactivity | So future bookings are quicker |
| Marketing consent records | 6 years from withdrawal | To evidence that we acted on your choice |
| Support conversations | 6 years | Kept with the booking they relate to |
9. Your rights
- To be told what we hold about you, and to receive a copy of it.
- To have inaccurate information corrected.
- To have information deleted, where we are not required to keep it.
- To restrict or object to particular uses, including our legitimate-interests processing.
- To receive your information in a portable format.
- To withdraw consent at any time, without it affecting anything done beforehand.
10. Complaints
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, tell us first — we would rather put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk at any time, and using that right does not affect anything you have booked.
Questions about this document
Privacy enquiries: info@globaltamiltravels.co.uk
Global Tamil Travels Ltd, Unit 4, Chandos House, 42 Romford Road, London E7 9HZ.
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