Privacy notice
This notice explains how Ashby & Vale collects, uses and protects personal information when you visit our website, ask for a free ad check or work with us.
Last updated: 13 November 2026
Who we are
Ashby & Vale is a sole trader business based in Edinburgh, Scotland. We plan, run and report on Facebook and Instagram ad campaigns (Meta ads) for UK businesses. We also build websites for local businesses, such as salons, barbers, cafés, trades and local services.
The person responsible for your information (the "data controller") is Dylan Keddie, trading as Ashby & Vale. We have paid the data protection fee to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK regulator for data protection.
Contact: Couplaquid@gmail.com. Email is the easiest way to reach us about privacy, and we'll reply from the same address.
What we collect
| Where it comes from | What we collect |
|---|---|
| Free ad check form on our website | Your name, business name, email, business type, Facebook Page and Instagram links, any message you add, and whether you've opted out of our emails |
| Emails, and messages through Facebook Messenger, our Facebook Page or Instagram | Your name, contact details and whatever you choose to tell us |
| Your business's public Facebook Page and Instagram profile | Public information about your business, such as posts, page details, and overall numbers of reviews and engagement |
| Our own lead ads on Facebook and Instagram | Your answers to the form, usually your name, email and business name, plus anything else the form asks |
| If you become a client | Contact name, email, phone number, billing details, and contract and payment records |
| Our website (every visit) | Your IP address and basic device and browser information, which our host Cloudflare processes to deliver the site and protect it from attacks |
| Our website, once we add the Meta Pixel (only if you agree) | Details of your visit sent by the Meta Pixel, cookie identifiers, and basic device and browser information |
| Our Facebook Page | Summary statistics about visits and interactions (Page Insights) from Meta |
We don't ask for sensitive information, such as details about health, religion or ethnicity. Please don't send it to us.
Why we use it and our lawful basis
We must have a lawful basis for each use of personal information:
| What we do | Lawful basis |
|---|---|
| Reply to your enquiry and carry out your free ad check | Legitimate interests (replying to businesses that ask for help) |
| Follow up on your free ad check, enquiry or lead form | Legitimate interests (finding out whether you'd like our help) |
| Deliver our services and manage our contract | Contract, if you're our client yourself (for example a sole trader or partner). Legitimate interests (running our contract with your business), if you're a contact at a client business |
| Issue invoices and keep accounting and tax records | Legal obligation |
| Send occasional emails about our services | Legitimate interests (telling people who've shown interest about our services) and, where it applies, the soft opt-in (see "Marketing messages") |
| Run our website and keep it secure | Legitimate interests (delivering a working, safe website) |
| Load the Meta Pixel and any non-essential cookies (once we add them) | Consent |
| Keep a record of your cookie choices (once our cookie banner is live) | Legal obligation (to show we have your consent) |
| Use Page Insights for our Facebook Page | Legitimate interests (understanding how our Page is used) |
| Our client campaigns and client websites | We act for the client, who decides the lawful basis (see "When we run ads for our clients") |
| Deal with disputes or legal claims | Legitimate interests (protecting our business and dealing with legal claims) |
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we've checked that using your information this way is fair and doesn't override your rights. You can object at any time.
Do you have to give us your information?
No. But we need your name, email and Facebook or Instagram link to do a free ad check, and contact and billing details to work with you and invoice you. Without them we can't provide those services.
The free ad check
We look at your business's public Facebook Page and Instagram profile, then tell you what's working, what isn't, and what we'd do with £5 a day of ad spend. We only look at what anyone can see, and at overall patterns, such as how often you post and how people respond. We don't copy or keep the names or details of people who comment on or review your pages. We don't log in to your accounts unless you later give us access as a client. There's no obligation.
Our own lead ads
We sometimes advertise Ashby & Vale using Meta's lead ad forms (Instant Forms). Meta may pre-fill fields such as your name and email from your profile, and you can edit them before you submit. Meta then collects your answers for us and passes them to us. We're responsible (the "controller") for those answers. We use them only to reply to your enquiry and, if you don't say no, for the follow-up in "Marketing messages". Separately, Meta uses information about how you use Facebook and Instagram, including that you saw or opened our form, under its own privacy policy. Every form links to this notice.
We don't currently upload our contact lists to Meta to target ads. If we start, we'll update this notice first.
When we run ads for our clients
We work inside each client's own Meta business portfolio and ad account. The client is the controller of any leads, audiences, customer lists or website data in their campaigns, and of enquiries sent through websites we build or look after for them. We act as their "processor". This means we use that information only on the client's written instructions, for their campaigns, and never for our own purposes. When our work ends, we give up our access and delete any copies we hold, unless the client asks otherwise.
If you filled in a lead form or saw an ad for one of our clients, that business's privacy notice applies to you, so please contact them. If you contact us instead, we'll pass your request on.
Meta Pixel and cookies
The Meta Pixel is a small piece of code that tells Meta when people visit a website and what they do there, such as viewing a page or submitting a form. It helps us measure our own ads and show them to people likely to be interested.
The Pixel isn't on our website yet. When we add it, we'll ask you first. Our cookie banner will let you accept or reject it equally easily, and the Pixel won't run or contact Meta unless you click Accept. The same goes for any other non-essential cookies or similar technologies, as the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) require. Until you agree, our website uses none. Once the banner is live, you'll be able to change your choice at any time through a cookie settings link on every page. The Pixel will set a cookie called _fbp, which lasts up to 90 days.
If you agree, details of your visit (pages viewed, actions such as submitting our form, your IP address and browser information) will be sent to Meta Platforms Ireland Limited and Meta Platforms, Inc.
We and Meta will be "joint controllers" for collecting this information on our site and sending it to Meta. Under Meta's Controller Addendum (facebook.com/legal/controller_addendum), we're responsible for asking your consent and giving you this information. Meta handles rights requests about the data once it has it. You can contact either of us, and we'll pass on anything that's Meta's to deal with. What Meta then does with the data is covered by its privacy policy (facebook.com/privacy/policy).
Our Facebook Page
When you visit or interact with our Facebook Page (facebook.com/ashbyandvale), Meta uses information about you to produce Page Insights. We only see the statistics, which don't tell us who you are. Meta and we are joint controllers for this under Meta's Page Insights Controller Addendum (facebook.com/legal/terms/page_controller_addendum). Meta takes the lead, including on rights requests, but you can also email us and we'll pass your request on. Messages you send our Page are covered by the rest of this notice.
Marketing messages
We may send occasional emails about our own similar services to people who have asked for a free ad check, enquired or become clients. Every form we use, on our website and in our lead ads, lets you say no to these when you send it.
If you're a sole trader or in a partnership, we only email you if you asked us to, or if you enquired with us and didn't say no at the time (the "soft opt-in"). For people at limited companies and other organisations, we rely on legitimate interests.
We don't send marketing by Facebook Messenger, Instagram message or text unless you've asked us to. Every email has an unsubscribe link, or you can simply email us. We'll stop as soon as we can, and within 5 working days at most.
Who we share it with
We don't sell your personal information. These service providers handle it only on our instructions:
- Email and files: Google (Gmail and Google Drive)
- Website host: Cloudflare, which serves our website and handles our domain
- Form tool: Formspree, which receives free ad check submissions and emails them to us
- Meta: when it collects our lead form answers for us
These organisations make their own decisions about what they receive, under their own privacy notices:
- Meta: for the Pixel (if you agree), Page Insights, and its own use of data from our ads and Page
- An accountant: if we use one, for bookkeeping and tax
- Our bank: for payments
- HMRC, the police, regulators or our professional advisers: where the law requires it or to deal with a legal claim
International transfers
Meta Platforms Ireland Limited is in Ireland, which UK law recognises as giving adequate protection. Google, Cloudflare, Formspree and Meta Platforms, Inc. may handle information in the United States. For them we rely on the UK-US "data bridge" (the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework) where the provider is certified, or otherwise the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or Addendum. Email us for a copy of these safeguards.
How long we keep it
| Information | How long |
|---|---|
| Enquiries and free ad checks that don't lead to work | 12 months from our last contact |
| Facebook and Instagram messages | Our copies as for enquiries. Meta keeps its own copy under its policy |
| Leads from our own lead ads that don't lead to work | 12 months from receipt. We delete them from Meta's Leads Center once downloaded |
| Client records, contracts and invoices | 6 years after the end of the tax year they relate to |
| Data we handle for clients | As the client instructs. We delete our copies when our work ends |
| Marketing email list | Until you unsubscribe (we keep a note so we don't email you again) |
| Pixel data (once we add the Pixel) | Meta keeps this under its own retention periods. We'll keep a record of your cookie choice for 12 months |
After that we delete the information or make it anonymous.
Automated decisions
We don't make any fully automated decision about you that has a legal or similarly serious effect. For our own ads, we choose broad audience settings such as location, age range and interests. Meta's systems then decide which individual people see each ad. We don't see or decide which individuals are shown our ads. You can change your ad preferences in your Facebook or Instagram settings.
Your rights
Some of these rights apply only in certain situations. You can:
- ask for a copy of the information we hold about you
- ask us to correct anything that's wrong
- ask us to delete your information
- ask us to limit how we use it
- object to us using it where we rely on legitimate interests, and stop marketing emails at any time
- withdraw your consent at any time, for example to the Pixel and cookies
- ask for information you gave us to be sent to you or another organisation in a usable format, where we use it based on your consent or a contract
To make a request, email Couplaquid@gmail.com. We may need to check your identity. We'll reply within one month of receiving your request, or of confirming your identity if we need to. If a request is complex, we may take up to two more months and will tell you why within the first month. There's normally no charge.
Children and security
Our services are for businesses and aren't aimed at anyone under 18. We don't knowingly collect information about children.
We protect our accounts with strong passwords and two-step verification, and only people who need your information can see it. We choose providers with good security. When clients give us access to their ad accounts, we use Meta's own permission settings rather than sharing passwords.
Complaints
If you're unhappy with how we've handled your information, please email us first. We'll acknowledge your complaint within 30 days and tell you what we're doing about it. You can also complain to the ICO at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.
Changes to this notice
We'll update this notice when our services or the law change, for example when we add the Meta Pixel. The date at the top shows when it last changed.