Privacy Policy

Last updated Thursday 12th March 2026 by Gavin Duffy, Zeromachine Ltd.

Who we are

This website is operated by Zeromachine Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales with company number 16082140. Our business focuses on zero‑emission machinery, engineering services and consultancy.

Our contact details are:

Email: enquiries@zeromachine.co.uk
Postal: 34 Twentyfifth Avenue, Blyth, Northumberland, NE24 2QW . United Kingdom.

For data protection purposes, Zeromachine Ltd is the data controller for personal data collected through this website.

What this policy covers

This policy explains how we collect, use and protect personal data when you:

Visit our website.
Contact us via a contact form, email or telephone.
Work with us through Zeromachine, Zeromachine Works Studio or other Zeromachine projects like Voltforge, where initial contact came via the site.

It does not cover websites we link to; those sites have their own privacy policies.

What data we collect

We only collect information we need for clear reasons:

Information you give us directly

Name and contact details (such as email address and phone number).
Organisation, role and project details you choose to share.
The content of messages you send through our contact forms or by email.

Information collected automatically when you use the site

Technical information such as IP address, browser type and version, device type and basic usage data (pages viewed, time on site, etc.), collected through our hosting provider and any analytics tools we use.
Log information to help us keep the site secure and diagnose problems.

We do not knowingly collect special category data (such as health information) through this website.

If you place an order through our shop

When you purchase from shop.voltforge.co.uk we collect and process additional personal data necessary to fulfil your order:

Name, delivery and billing address, email address and telephone number. Order details including products purchased, quantities and prices. Payment information — we do not store your card details. Payment is processed securely by Stripe, who act as an independent data controller for payment processing purposes. Stripe’s privacy policy is available at stripe.com/gb/privacy. IP address and basic device information associated with your order, retained for fraud prevention purposes.

How we use your order data

To process and fulfil your order, including picking, packing and despatch. To communicate with you about your order status, shipping and any issues. To pass your name and delivery address to Royal Mail for the purpose of delivering your order. To maintain financial and transaction records in line with our legal obligations under UK tax law. Legal basis: performance of a contract for order fulfilment; legal obligation for financial record-keeping; legitimate interests for fraud prevention.

How long we keep order data

We retain completed order records for 7 years in line with HMRC record-keeping requirements. If you create an account, your account data is retained for as long as the account is active and for a reasonable period thereafter.

How we use your data (and legal bases)

We use personal data for the following purposes:

Responding to enquiries and running our business
- To read and respond to messages you send us.
- To follow up on potential projects, collaborations or investment discussions.
- Legal basis: our legitimate interests in operating and growing the business, and taking steps at your request before entering into a contract.
Providing services and managing relationships
- To plan and deliver engineering and consultancy work.
- To maintain records of conversations, proposals and project history.
- Legal basis: performance of a contract and our legitimate interests in managing projects and quality.
Operating, maintaining and improving the website
- To monitor performance, understand which content is useful and keep the site secure.
- Legal basis: our legitimate interests in running an effective and secure website.
Legal and regulatory obligations
- To keep appropriate records, handle complaints and comply with legal or regulatory requirements (for example, in relation to tax or data protection law).
- Legal basis: compliance with legal obligations.

If we ever want to use your data for something that relies on consent (such as an email newsletter or certain types of marketing), we will ask you clearly and you can withdraw that consent at any time.

f you create an account

You can optionally create an account on shop.voltforge.co.uk to manage your orders and, if applicable, access trade pricing.

When you create an account we collect and store:

Your name, email address and a securely hashed password. Your billing and shipping addresses if you choose to save them. Your order history associated with the account. Your account type, including whether you have been approved as a trade customer.

How we use your account data

To authenticate you and provide access to your account. To display your order history and saved addresses. To apply any pricing or terms associated with your account type. To contact you about your account if necessary. Legal basis: performance of a contract; our legitimate interests in managing customer relationships and trade accounts.

Closing your account

You can request closure of your account at any time by contacting us at enquiries@zeromachine.co.uk. On closure we will delete or anonymise your account data, subject to our obligation to retain order and financial records as described above.

Who we share data with

We do not sell your personal data. We share it only when necessary with:

Service providers who help us run the business, such as:
- Our web hosting and IT providers (e.g. hosting for this site, DNS and email routing).
- Microsoft 365 for email, document storage and collaboration.
- Any analytics or security services we use to monitor and protect the site.
Professional advisers, such as accountants or legal advisers, where genuinely needed.
Authorities or third parties where we are legally required to do so, or where it’s necessary to protect our rights or the rights of others.

Where service providers process data on our behalf, they are bound by contracts requiring them to handle it securely and only for our stated purposes.

International transfers

Our main systems are hosted in the UK or EEA where possible, but some of our service providers (for example, Microsoft) may process data in other countries.

Where data is transferred outside the UK/EEA, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as adequacy regulations or standard contractual clauses to protect your information, as permitted under UK data protection law.

How long we keep it

We keep personal data only as long as necessary for the purposes described above:

Enquiry emails and contact‑form submissions are typically kept for up to 6 years, to allow us to look back at project history, technical context and commercial discussions.
Project‑related records linked to actual work may be kept longer, in line with our engineering, safety and legal record‑keeping obligations.
Technical logs may be kept for shorter periods where they are only needed for security and troubleshooting.

We may keep data longer if required by law or to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

Cookies and similar technologies

We use cookies and similar technologies to help run this website and understand how it is used.

Some cookies are essential for the site to function (for example, to load pages or remember certain preferences).
We may also use basic analytics cookies to understand visitor numbers and page usage, so we can improve the site; these do not identify you directly.

Full details of the cookies we use and how you can control them are set out in our Cookies Policy, which you can access from the site footer.

Your rights

Under UK data protection law you have rights in relation to your personal data, including:

Right of access – to ask for a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification – to have inaccurate or incomplete data corrected.
Right to erasure – to ask us to delete your data in certain circumstances.
Right to restrict processing – to ask us to limit how we use your data.
Right to object – to object to certain processing, including where we rely on legitimate interests.
Right to data portability – in some cases, to receive your data in a structured, commonly used format or ask us to transfer it to another organisation.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you are unhappy with how we handle your data (www.ico.org.uk), though we’d appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns first.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at enquiries@zeromachine.co.uk.

Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal data, including using reputable hosting providers, secure connections (HTTPS) and access controls on our systems. However, no internet transmission is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Changes to this policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, how we process data, or legal requirements. When we do, we will update the “Last updated” date at the top and, where appropriate, highlight the changes on the website.