Last updated: 20 September 2026.
Who we are
CampGear is a UK outdoor publication operated by Fat Camel Ltd, trading as CampGear. Fat Camel Ltd is responsible for the personal information described in this notice (the data controller). We are registered in England and Wales, company number 15541806. Our registered office is 16 Robinson Way, Bordon, Hampshire, GU35 0DY, United Kingdom.
For privacy questions or requests, email enquiries@campgear.uk.
When you contact us
We receive your email address, your name if supplied, your message and any attachments. We use this information to answer enquiries, investigate corrections and consider suggestions. Our lawful basis is legitimate interests in responding to readers and maintaining an accurate publication. Please send only information relevant to your enquiry. Providing this information is voluntary, but we may be unable to reply without contact details.
We use an email service provider to handle correspondence and website notifications. Access to reader correspondence is restricted to authorised personnel. We do not add people who contact us to a marketing list.
Article comments
When comments are open, we collect a display name, email address, comment, IP address and browser information. Your display name and approved comment are public; your email address is not displayed. Comments are optional. The form indicates the fields needed to submit a comment.
We use this information to moderate discussion, contact you about your comment where needed and investigate abuse. Our lawful basis is legitimate interests in providing useful discussion and protecting readers. Reader comments are reviewed before publication. External avatars and cookies that remember commenter details are disabled.
Website delivery and security
Our hosting and security services process connection information, including IP addresses, requested pages, browser information, access times and security events, to deliver the website, diagnose faults and protect it from misuse. Our lawful basis is legitimate interests in providing and securing the website.
Our website hosting includes processing in the UK. Some operational analytics, security and support information, including IP addresses and access logs, is processed in the United States or other countries outside the UK. See “Service providers and international processing” below.
Two photographs in our weather guide load from Unsplash. Loading these images connects your browser to Unsplash’s image service and sends connection information, including your IP address. Other selected article images are delivered through our website hosting.
Cookies and browser storage
We use a security cookie provided by Cloudflare to help distinguish genuine visitors from automated traffic and protect the website. It expires after 30 minutes of continuous inactivity. We also use browser session storage to remember whether your browser can display emoji; this lasts for the browsing session. Signed-in editors use additional login and preference cookies, separate from ordinary reader browsing.
The Privacy preferences control in the footer lets you manage measurement choices. When you save a choice, we remember it in your browser. Positive permissions expire after 180 days. Rejections remain effective until you change them or clear browser storage. The preference record contains no visitor identifier and applies only to that browser.
Readership statistics and advertising
We use Plausible for optional, cookieless readership statistics to improve our articles and navigation. Statistics stay off until you choose Accept all or save selected options in Customise. Accept only essential switches all optional statistics off. You can independently choose page counts, referral-source events, and guide engagement (reaching 75% of an article and clicking related guides). These are used to improve our publication, not for advertising profiles. For new collection under these choices, where personal information is processed, our lawful basis is consent. You can withdraw or change your choices at any time through Privacy preferences in the footer. We respect previous rejections and Global Privacy Control. Earlier broad permissions do not automatically enable these new choices.
For enabled event types, we send the public page address without query parameters or fragments. A referring website’s origin is sent only when referral statistics are enabled, in a separate referral event, without its page path or query string. Page-count and engagement events do not include a referrer. Each event may contribute to Plausible’s overall statistics; these choices control event types, not every technical field processed by the provider. We do not send comment text, email addresses, search terms or account identifiers. Plausible receives connection IP addresses and browser information to process requests. Its published policy says raw IP addresses and full user-agent strings are not stored and a daily changing identifier is used for visitor statistics. Visitor data is processed and stored in the EU. Our dashboard is private and our selected statistics retention is three years. Switching statistics off stops future events; it cannot recall events already received.
Future services that require consent will be explained and kept off until you agree. Rejecting optional tracking will not prevent access to our articles.
Service providers and international processing
We use service providers for website hosting, technical support, security, email delivery, and storage of website content and backup copies. They receive the information needed to provide those services. This can include reader correspondence, comments and technical connection information, according to the service they provide.
Service providers may use affiliated companies and specialist suppliers outside the UK. The published terms of our hosting and security providers include standard contractual clauses and the UK Addendum for applicable international transfers. You can contact us for further information about recipients and the safeguards applicable to your information, including how to obtain a copy of relevant safeguards.
How long we keep information
We review routine enquiries for deletion 12 months after resolution. Approved comments are reviewed annually and kept while useful. We review the need to keep the associated email address at the same time and delete it when the comment is permanently deleted. Rejected and spam comments are deleted after 30 days.
Comment IP addresses and browser details are removed once they are 30 days old, through routine daily deletion. Information needed for an active dispute or abuse investigation may be retained longer. We document the reason and review investigation holds monthly, removing them when no longer needed. This technical cleanup does not delete the comment itself.
Routine website backups are retained for 14 days. Deleted information can remain in those backups until they expire. Applicable deletion and retention rules are reapplied after a restore. Accessible website server logs are retained for up to four days and access-log information used for hosting statistics for up to 30 days. These periods refer to those specific records, not every provider record.
Additional recovery copies are deleted within 30 days after the work and recovery checks they support are complete. Copies needed for an unresolved problem are kept only as necessary, with the reason and review recorded. For other operational records, we assess their purpose, any applicable legal obligation and whether they remain necessary rather than retaining them indefinitely.
Your right to object
You can object to our use of your personal information where we rely on legitimate interests. Email enquiries@campgear.uk and explain your concern. We will consider your circumstances and the applicable legal requirements.
Your other rights
Depending on the circumstances, you can ask for access to or correction of your personal information, request deletion, or ask us to restrict its use. Data portability applies in certain circumstances. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it without affecting the lawfulness of earlier processing. We may need proportionate information to verify your identity when handling a request.
You can raise a concern with us or complain directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office. We do not use your information to make solely automated decisions with legal or similarly significant effects on you.
Changes to this notice
We will update this notice when our use of information changes. Public reader accounts and newsletter signup are not currently available. Advertising and affiliate integrations are deferred.