Last reviewed: 6 October 2026.

Your choices at a glance

This page explains cookies and other browser storage on the Fast Car Service website, including what happens if you choose to load the optional Google map. For information about personal information more generally, read our website privacy notice.

  • You can read our public pages and contact us without creating a customer account.
  • The embedded Google map on the contact page stays off until you choose to load it.
  • You can choose Keep map off, or use Hide Google map after loading it.
  • The written address, directions links, telephone number and email remain available without the embedded map.

The map choice is made beside the map on the contact page. This information page does not contain a separate preference button that controls every website or every cookie on your device.

What cookies and browser storage are

A cookie is a small piece of information a website can ask your browser to keep and send back with later requests. It can support sign-in, remember a choice or serve another purpose.

Websites can also use local or session storage without setting cookies. What matters is the information stored or accessed and its purpose, rather than its label. The Information Commissioner’s Office explains these technologies.

Session and persistent information

Session cookies are intended for a browser session. Persistent cookies have an expiry or can remain until removed. Browser settings and session-restoring features can affect what remains when you reopen the browser.

Local storage can remain beyond one visit. Session storage belongs to a particular browsing context, such as a tab, and can survive a page reload. Our map choice is different: it is not saved using either of these storage methods, and is not remembered for your next visit.

Why the purpose matters

A first-party cookie belongs to the website you are visiting. A third-party service can bring its own cookies or storage when its content is loaded. Neither label tells you, on its own, whether a use needs consent.

UK rules allow certain purpose-specific exceptions, while other storage or access needs an informed choice beforehand. The ICO’s guidance on exceptions explains the distinction. We treat the Google map as an optional feature and ask you to choose before it is loaded; you do not need it to read our address or contact details.

The current public website

The public site provides service information, maintenance guides, offers and contact details. It does not provide customer accounts, an online booking or enquiry form, or online payment. Service enquiries are made by telephone or email.

The public pages checked for this notice did not include a separate advertising or visitor-analytics tracking service. The optional Google map is a third-party feature with its own behaviour, explained below. Keeping it off does not prevent you from reading the rest of the website.

We describe the features checked at the review date. This is not a promise about every browser extension, existing provider account or external website you might use while planning a visit.

First-party technical cookies

No first-party visitor cookie was observed being set in the ordinary public page responses checked for this notice. That observation concerns those requests, rather than every possible browser or signed-in state. The optional map and staff sign-in need separate consideration.

A cookie already in your browser may relate to an earlier visit or a signed-in service. Check its domain and name when inspecting website data. If you have a question about one connected with Fast Car Service, those details help us identify which feature you are asking about.

Staff sign-in to WordPress

WordPress is used to manage the website. Staff sign-in can involve cookies for authentication, administration and checking whether the browser accepts cookies. These support access to protected management functions; they are not a customer account system.

The duration depends on the relevant sign-in and its settings. Blocking or deleting those cookies can affect a staff member’s ability to stay signed in. Ordinary visitors do not need to sign in to read the service pages, guides or contact information.

Choosing whether to load the Google map

The contact page starts with a map panel and written information, without loading the embedded Google map. Before choosing, you can read the explanation of Google as the provider and follow its privacy and cookie links.

Load Google map requests the embedded map from Google. Keep map off leaves it unloaded. The two choices are available together. Continuing to browse, reading this notice or leaving the panel untouched is not an instruction to load the map.

There is no separate site-wide “accept all” choice implied by the map button. It concerns this optional map. The ICO’s consent guidance describes making a specific choice and being able to change it.

What Google may receive or store

Loading the map connects your browser to Google. Google can receive information associated with that request, such as the IP address and browser or device information. Its handling depends on the product, your settings and whether you are already using a Google account.

Google describes cookies and similar technologies for functionality, security and preferences, and possible measurement, personalisation or advertising uses. Its general cookie information covers several services; it is not a verified list of every cookie this particular map sets for each visitor.

Read Google’s Privacy Policy and how Google uses cookies before choosing if you want more detail. Fast Car Service does not set Google’s account preferences for you.

How long the map choice lasts

We do not save your map choice in a cookie, local storage or session storage. It applies while that contact page is open. Leaving or reloading the page ends that choice, and the map starts off again when the page is opened.

This page-level choice does not set the lifetime of Google’s own cookies. Provider storage can have different durations, affected by the service and your settings. Google’s current cookie information explains its examples and lifetimes. There is no single expiry we can accurately apply to all map visitors.

Changing your mind after loading the map

Use Hide Google map in the contact-page panel to withdraw the map choice. This removes the embedded map and prevents the page from loading it again unless you choose to do so. The address and directions links remain usable.

Removing the map cannot undo information already sent to Google. It also does not delete cookies belonging to Google’s domain or alter your Google account. You can manage those through the relevant browser and Google controls. If you want to ask about information Google has received, its privacy information provides the relevant options.

If JavaScript is unavailable, the embedded map remains off. The ordinary directions links, address, telephone and email still provide ways to plan a visit or reach us.

Your browser’s own controls

Most browsers let you inspect website data, delete cookies and other storage, or restrict particular uses. Look for the privacy or site-data settings in the browser you are actually using. The wording and available controls vary between browsers and devices.

You may be able to remove data for one website instead of clearing everything. Check the domain shown, especially if the information belongs to a map provider rather than Fast Car Service. Deleting data can sign you out of other services or remove saved preferences.

Private browsing does not mean that a requested external map receives no information. Nor does closing a private window undo a request already made. The map controls here give you a choice before loading the feature, alongside any restrictions you have chosen in your browser.

Directions links, calls and email

The Google Maps and Apple Maps directions links on our contact page are ordinary links to external navigation services. Following one opens the selected service, which has its own privacy information and may use cookies or account settings. Keeping the embedded map off does not block those links.

A telephone link asks your device to open its calling function. An email link opens your chosen email application or service. These are ways to contact us, rather than a website account or online booking form. You can also copy the number or address and use your preferred method.

Website records and this notice

The hosting system can process technical information when a page is requested, such as an IP address, time, page and browser information. Server records are different from a cookie saved on your device. Your browser may also keep ordinary cached copies of page files; clearing cookies and clearing the cache are different controls.

Our privacy notice explains website information and questions about its use. Cookie choices do not cover every use of personal information. The ICO explains how the cookie rules and data protection rules relate.

Updates and questions

This information may change if we add or alter website features, providers or storage purposes. The date above identifies this version. An external provider can update its own information separately, so follow the linked provider pages when checking its current details.

Fast Car Service is part of the SteelMarch Group, at Unit 31, Gosport Basepoint Centre, Aerodrome Road, Gosport, PO13 0FQ. For a question about this notice or the map controls, email hello@fastcarservice.co.uk or call 02393 552182. Tell us which page or feature you are asking about so we can understand the issue.

You can also raise a data protection concern with the Information Commissioner’s Office. Its website explains the available routes and information needed.