What is a cookie?

A cookie is a small file that is sent to your computer or mobile phone which contains information that allows us to recognise that you have used our website before. A cookie typically contains:

• The name of the server the cookie was sent from
• The lifetime of the cookie
• A unique identifier (usually a number)

Our website server sends the cookie and uses this number to recognise you when you return to a site or browse from page to page. Only the server that sends a cookie can read it, and therefore use, that cookie. This file is stored on your computer's (or phone's) hard drive. All websites can send a cookie to your browser if your browser settings allow it. Many websites do this to track on-line traffic flow.

Cookies can be categorised from their life span:

• Session or temporary cookies: these cookies expire when you close your browser or when the session times out
• Persistent or permanent cookies: these are usually stored on your hard disk and survive across multiple sessions but have a longer expiration date

When you visit our website, the pages that you see, together with a cookie are downloaded to your device. This is a common practice on websites, because it allows website publishers to find out (amongst other things) whether the website has been visited before.
 

Our cookies

How to control or delete Cookies

If you do not want cookies to be stored on your PC it is possible to disable this function within your browser without affecting your navigation around the site.

In Googe Chrome, click the three dots top right and select Settings, click on Privacy and security and then Third-party cookies. Select the level of security you prefer.

In Firefox, click on Tools, click on Options, click on Privacy, click on the Cookies tab and choose your level of privacy.

For other browsers, visit allaboutcookies.org.

However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of our site. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies as soon as you visit our site.