Cookies and tracking
Last updated 23 September 2026
This page lists what this website actually stores and loads. It is deliberately specific: if something is not on this page, this site does not do it.
One thing we count without asking
We keep a simple tally of how many times each page is viewed, and how many people accept or decline the choice below. It is a running total and nothing more.
There is no cookie, nothing stored on your device, and no identifier - not even an anonymous one. Your visit is added to a number; no record of it is kept. Two people viewing a page looks exactly the same as one person viewing it twice, because that is all the information there is. It is never sent to Google or anyone else.
We count it so we can tell the difference between a quiet week and a broken website. The only other things recorded are:
- which page was viewed
- whether it was a phone, tablet or computer
- the campaign details on the link you followed, if you arrived from an advert or a marketing link
Before you choose
Until you accept optional cookies, this website does not:
- load Google Analytics
- set any Google Analytics cookie
- create any identifier on your device
- record which pages you view
- record taps on the phone number or email address
- record that you started filling in a form
- link what you do on one page to what you do on another
The page tally described above is one exception, and it involves no cookie and no identifier. The other is the Google Ads tag, explained next.
Google Ads
We advertise on Google, so Google's advertising tag loads on every page. Until you accept, it runs in Google's consent mode with every setting switched off: it sets no advertising cookies, does not use your visit for personalised adverts, and strips ad-click identifiers from what it sends. In that state Google can still receive basic, cookieless signals, such as that a page loaded or the phone number was tapped, which it only uses in aggregate to estimate how well our adverts work.
If you accept, Google may set its advertising cookies so an enquiry or call can be linked to the advert that led to it. Declining or withdrawing switches this off again.
Continuing to browse is not taken as agreement, and nothing is pre-ticked.
What is stored, and when
| What | Set by | When | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| ssm_consent | This website | As soon as you answer | Remembers your answer so you are not asked on every page. Stored on your device only, and set whether you accept or decline. |
| ssm_anon | This website | Only if you accept | A random identifier with nothing personal in it, so separate page views can be counted as one visit. Removed when you withdraw. |
| _ga, _ga_* | Google Analytics | Only if you accept | Google's own analytics cookies, used to measure visits and traffic sources. |
| _gcl_*, IDE, test_cookie | Google Ads | Only if you accept | Google's advertising cookies, used to link an enquiry or call to the advert that led to it. |
| Page tally | This website | Always | A running count of page views and of accept/decline choices. No cookie, no storage on your device, no identifier, never shared. |
What is measured if you accept
- pages viewed, and how you arrived at the site
- click to call - that someone tapped the phone number. It does not tell us a call happened, only that the link was tapped.
- click to email - that someone tapped the email address. The address they tapped is never sent to Google.
- that someone began filling in the enquiry or quote form
- that an enquiry was successfully sent
Your name, email address, telephone number and message are never sent to Google Analytics.
If you decline
Everything above stays off. The site works normally, the quote and contact forms work normally, and your enquiry is still received and answered - see the privacy notice. Because no identifier exists, we cannot tell where that enquiry came from, and it is recorded as unknown rather than guessed at.
Changing your mind
Withdrawing stops optional analytics, switches Google Ads back to its consent-off mode, deletes the identifier from your device, and clears the Google Analytics cookies this site set. Analytics information already collected is kept for 14 months and then deleted.