Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy explains how RiderBase collects, uses, and protects your personal information when you use our website at riderbase.co.uk and the services available through it. We’ve written it in plain English because we’d rather you actually understood it than waded through legal jargon.
Who we are
RiderBase is operated by Mr Christopher Malia, a sole trader trading as “RiderBase” (referred to in this policy as “RiderBase”, “we”, “us”, or “our”). We are the “data controller” responsible for your personal information.
You can contact us about anything in this policy at:
- Email: info@riderbase.co.uk
- Online: via our contact page
We are registered with the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) under registration number [ICO REGISTRATION NUMBER].
1. The information we collect
Depending on how you use RiderBase, we may collect the following:
Information you give us
- Account details — your name, email address, username, and password when you create an account.
- Rider profile — your licence category (for example CBT, A1, A2, Full A), your riding experience, and the motorcycle you ride. You provide this through our onboarding questionnaire and your profile.
- Enquiries and requests — anything you send us through our contact form, including the reason for your enquiry and any details you choose to share.
- Community content — your profile information and any posts, comments, or contributions you make in our community areas.
- Marketing preferences — whether you’ve chosen to receive our newsletter and other updates.
Information we collect automatically
- Course progress — which courses and lessons you’ve started or completed.
- Technical and usage data — your IP address, browser type, device information, and how you move around the site. We collect this through cookies and similar technologies (see our Cookie Policy).
We don’t intentionally collect “special category” data (such as health, ethnicity, or religious beliefs). Please don’t share this kind of information with us through forms or community posts unless it’s genuinely necessary.
2. Why we use your information, and our legal basis
Under UK data protection law we must have a valid “lawful basis” for using your personal information. Here’s what we do and why:
| What we use it for | Our lawful basis |
|---|---|
| Creating and managing your account | Performance of a contract with you |
| Showing you the course pathways relevant to your licence and experience | Performance of a contract / our legitimate interests in giving you a useful experience |
| Tracking and saving your course progress | Performance of a contract with you |
| Responding to your enquiries and complaints | Our legitimate interests in helping you, and our legal obligations |
| Sending you our newsletter and marketing updates | Your consent (which you can withdraw at any time) |
| Understanding how the site is used so we can improve it | Your consent (for analytics cookies) and our legitimate interests |
| Keeping the site secure and preventing misuse | Our legitimate interests in protecting RiderBase and its users |
| Meeting our legal and regulatory obligations | Compliance with a legal obligation |
Where we rely on “legitimate interests”, we’ve considered your rights and interests and don’t believe our use of your data overrides them. You can ask us about this at any time.
3. Marketing, and your choices
We’ll only send you marketing emails (like our newsletter and riding tips) if you’ve asked us to, or where the law allows us to contact existing members about similar services. Every marketing email includes an unsubscribe link, and you can opt out at any time by clicking it or emailing us. We’ll always act on your request promptly.
If you unsubscribe, we’ll keep a minimal record of your choice so that we can make sure we don’t contact you again.
4. Sharing your information
We do not sell your personal information. We only share it in the limited circumstances below.
Service providers who help us run RiderBase
We use trusted third-party providers to operate the platform — for example our website hosting, email and customer-relationship tools, form processing, and website analytics. These providers only process your data on our instructions and under contract, and only to the extent needed to provide their service. The main categories are:
- Website hosting: 123reg
- Email and CRM tools: FluentCRM
- Form processing: Fluent Forms
- Website analytics: Google Analytics via Site Kit, CookieYes
Trusted partners — only with your explicit consent
From time to time we may want to share your information with carefully chosen partners (for example, motorcycle brands or training providers whose offers might genuinely interest you). We will only ever do this where you have given us your clear, specific consent, and you can withdraw that consent at any time. If you don’t consent, it makes no difference to your access to RiderBase.
Where the law requires it
We may share information if we’re legally required to — for example, to comply with a court order, or to protect the rights, safety, or property of RiderBase or others.
5. Sending data outside the UK
Some of our service providers may store or process data outside the United Kingdom. Where that happens, we make sure appropriate safeguards are in place so your information receives a level of protection that is not materially lower than it would have in the UK — for example, through approved contractual clauses or a UK “data bridge” / adequacy arrangement.
6. How long we keep your information
We keep your personal information only for as long as we need it. As a general guide:
| Type of information | How long we keep it |
|---|---|
| Account and profile data | While your account is active, and for up to 24 months after it becomes inactive, after which we delete or anonymise it |
| Course progress | For as long as your account is active |
| Newsletter / marketing data | Until you unsubscribe, then a minimal suppression record to honour your choice |
| Contact and enquiry messages | Up to 24 months from your last contact |
| Website analytics data | Up to 14 months |
You can ask us to delete your information sooner — see your rights below.
7. How we protect your information
We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to keep your information secure, including secure hosting, encrypted connections (HTTPS), access controls, and keeping our software up to date. No website can promise perfect security, but we take this seriously and review our practices regularly.
8. Your rights
Under UK data protection law you have the right to:
- Be informed about how we use your data (that’s what this policy is for).
- Access a copy of the personal information we hold about you (a “subject access request”).
- Correct information that’s inaccurate or incomplete.
- Erase your information (“the right to be forgotten”) in certain circumstances.
- Restrict how we use your information in certain circumstances.
- Object to us using your information, including for marketing.
- Portability — ask us to transfer your data to you or another provider in a usable format.
- Withdraw consent at any time, where we rely on your consent.
To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the details at the top of this page, or submit a request through our contact page (which includes a dedicated option for subject access requests). We’ll respond within one month. There’s normally no charge.
9. How to complain
If you’re unhappy with how we’ve handled your personal information, please tell us first so we can put it right. You can complain to us directly through our contact page or by emailing info@riderbase.co.uk. We’ll acknowledge your complaint within 30 days and work to resolve it without undue delay, keeping you updated on progress and the outcome.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s data protection regulator, at ico.org.uk or by calling 0303 123 1113. We’d appreciate the chance to address your concerns before you do.
10. Children
Some riding entitlements in the UK begin at 16. To create a RiderBase account you must be at least 16 years old. If you’re under 16, please don’t create an account or send us personal information without a parent or guardian’s involvement. If we learn that we’ve collected information from a child under this age without appropriate consent, we’ll delete it.
11. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. When we make significant changes, we’ll update the “last updated” date at the top, and where appropriate we’ll let you know directly.
Thanks for trusting RiderBase with your information. If anything here is unclear, just get in touch — we’re happy to explain.