Cookies

Use of “cookies”

A cookie is a tiny file that is stored on your computer or browser when you visit certain web pages. This website uses cookies to enable you to browse our site and use its features (e.g. tracking items in your basket whilst making a booking, remembering you when you return to our site and informing us how many visitors we have to the site and what content is of most interest to you). This helps us to ensure our site is designed to make finding what you need as quick and easy as possible.

A list of all the cookies used on this website, by category, is set out in the table below.

Some of the cookies we use will be collecting personal information about the user of this website.  This is because online identifiers (including IP addresses) are personal data.  It is important to read our Privacy Policy to find out more including the categories of website information we collect, the purposes for which we use it, what lawful reasons we rely on for this and what rights you have under data protection laws.

Types of cookies

First-party cookies are set by the website that you are visiting.

Third-party cookies are set by a party other than the owner of the website you are visiting (i.e. a third party). Typically, third party cookies will be set by the organisations providing analytics services to the website owner (e.g. WebTrends and Google Analytics) or advertising network providers.

Session cookies are stored only during a browsing session and are removed from your device when the browser is closed.

Persistent cookies remain on your device even when the browser is closed.  Persistent cookies enable a website to remember you on subsequent visits, speeding up or enhancing your experience of services or functions offered (e.g. by remembering preferences). 

Disabling cookies

For more information on how to remove cookies or prevent cookies from being created on your particular browser, visit the Managing Cookies section of allaboutcookies.org (Note: this will open in a new window).

If you choose to entirely disable cookies through your browser settings, you will lose some functionality of this website. 

Strictly necessary cookies

These cookies are essential for the operation of this website. Without these cookies, we wouldn’t be able to remember the products and services you intend to purchase as you go through the check-out process. These cookies are all “session cookies” on this website - they allow us to link your activity during a browser session. A browser session starts when you open the browser window and finishes when you close the browser window. Session cookies are created temporarily and once you close the browser, all session cookies are deleted. Session cookies will not be used to advertise products or services to you or remember your preferences or username beyond your current visit.

Performance cookies

We collect non-personalised information about your visit to help us enhance your experience on this site, such as some of the pages you visit and some of the searches you perform. These cookies don’t collect information to identify you, all information is non-personalised and only used to help us improve how the website works. We use the data to improve the contents of the site, to compile (for internal market research purposes), aggregate statistics about site usage and to resolve errors.

Functionality cookies

If you check the "Remember me" box on the Sign In page, we will remember the device you are using the next time you visit this site. We will remember you by name and email address on the Sign In page, on the device you are using. To do this, we use a cookie which stores your name and email address on your device. If you've checked the "Remember me" box, you can change your mind at any time by simply unchecking this box on the "Sign In" screen so that the cookie will expire at the end of each browser session.

We also use cookies to remember the choices you make, so that our site can be more tailored to your needs, improving your journey through it. By using information based on your "home station" (which is chosen by you as your nearest station during the registration process or within My Account) and your interests, we can display, for example, the cheapest fares from your nearest station and show you offers and service improvements that are relevant to you.

These cookies don’t store personally identifiable information, but simply hold a globally unique identifier (GUID) that is associated with that information. These cookies cannot track your browsing activity on other websites. 

Targeting cookies

We also place internet tags in combination with cookies on different pages on this site and deploy these tags through a third party. We use this technology to measure visitor response to our site and the effectiveness of our advertising campaigns (e.g. whether a search engine was used to find our site, how many times a page is opened and which information is consulted). These cookies don’t collect personally identifiable information - all information these cookies collect is aggregated.  

Targeting cookies are also used to link to services provided by third parties, such as 'Like' and 'Share' buttons for social networks like Facebook. The third party provides these services in return for recognising that you have visited our website.  Cookies are also used by a third party tool (IBM Interact) to personalise some of the content you see on this website. Additional third-party cookies may also be dropped from time to time and these cookies may vary slightly from the list below, however all of the suppliers are approved media partners who adhere to industry best practice.

Partner cookies

We also have relationships with carefully selected partners (e.g. our hotel booking service). Our partners may also set cookies during your visit on their site(s).  Please note that we're not responsible for the content or cookie policy of other websites, including those belonging to our partners, and we recommend you read their cookie and privacy policies carefully.

We're giving you this information to make sure we are honest and clear about your privacy when using our website. We will continue to audit our use of cookies as we continue to improve our website.

Further information about cookies
If you'd like to learn more about cookies in general and how to manage them, visit aboutcookies.org or allaboutcookies.org (these open in a new window).  (Please note that we can't be responsible for the content of external websites including aboutcookies.org and/or allaboutcookies.org).