About cookies
A cookie is a small text file a website saves to your computer or phone when you visit. Sites rely on them to run more efficiently and to give their owners useful information.
CCTV Line uses cookies, as most sites do, to improve your browsing and to personalise the service you get.
What we use them for
Three purposes, and no others:
- Essential: sign-in, keeping your session open and storing your cookie choice.
- Security and account activity: an accurate log of activity on your account, used to investigate disputed orders, suspected account takeovers and fraud.
- Analytics: measuring site usage and telling real visitors from scraping bots. Some analytics is self-hosted on our servers; where Google Analytics is switched on, data also goes to Google.
Your personal data is never sold. Analytics cookies, Google’s among them, are set only after you pick “Accept all”. Before you choose, and after “Essential only”, they stay off. With Google Analytics in use, IP anonymisation is switched on; Google can still use the data for its own ends, as Google’s privacy policy sets out.
Cookies we set
Essential cookies
The site cannot run without these: they handle sign-in, keep your session open and hold your basket. Because the service cannot be provided without them, they are exempt from consent and cannot be turned off.
| Cookie | Purpose | Duration | Set only with consent? |
|---|---|---|---|
| authjs.session-token | Your sign-in session (named __Secure-authjs.session-token when served over HTTPS). It holds no personal data, just a random token checked against our server. | Until sign-out or session expiry | No — always set |
| _gc | Keeps your basket between pages when you shop without signing in. It holds a random reference only. Signing in moves the basket to your account and clears this cookie. | 30 days | No — always set |
| _cs | Stores your cookie choice so the banner does not reappear on every page. It has to remember a “no” as well, or we would have no way to respect it. | 1 year | No — always set |
Account security cookies
Only set after you sign in. They keep your account’s activity log accurate, and that log is what we check on a disputed order, a possible account takeover or suspected fraud. The basis is our legitimate interest in account and payment security, not consent: a security record anyone could turn off would be no security record at all.
| Cookie | Purpose | Duration | Set only with consent? |
|---|---|---|---|
| _a | Tells our activity log which signed-in account an action belongs to. It is cryptographically signed, so it cannot be altered to pose as someone else, and it grants no access by itself. Removed when you sign out. | 12 hours | No — always set |
Analytics cookies
They show us which pages get visited, where journeys fail and whether traffic comes from real people or scraping bots. For visitors not signed in, they are only set after “Accept all”, and a browser’s “Do Not Track” setting is honoured. “Essential only” deletes any already set.
| Cookie | Purpose | Duration | Set only with consent? |
|---|---|---|---|
| _v | Random ID so a returning browser can be recognised and its page views joined up into one journey instead of scattered hits. No name, address or email is stored in it. | 180 days | Yes |
| _s | Random ID for a single visit, so one visit can be told apart from the next. | Session | Yes |
| _at | Notes how your first visit began (campaign tags, referring site, landing page), which shows us what marketing pays off. Written once, never overwritten, and deliberately holds nothing about you as a person. | 90 days | Yes |
| ph_* | Set by PostHog, the analytics software we host on our own servers; the data does not go to a third party. | Up to 1 year | Yes |
| _ga, _ga_* | Google Analytics 4, where switched on. Measures site usage and can tell one browser apart from another. A third-party cookie: data goes to Google, which may also use it for its own purposes. IP anonymisation is enabled. | Up to 2 years | Yes |
| _gcl_*, plus Google Tag Manager tags | Where Google Tag Manager is in use, its container may pull in more Google or advertising tags, and each of those can set cookies of its own; our tag configuration decides which. | Varies; typically up to 2 years | Yes |
| umami.* | Umami, a second privacy-focused analytics tool, also hosted on our own servers, where switched on. | Session | Yes |
Your choice, and changing it
On your first visit the banner asks: all cookies, or essential only. Until you answer, no analytics cookies are set and no browsing is recorded; no answer counts as a no, not a yes.
Pick Essential only and the analytics identifiers are deleted, not just ignored, so no tracking carries on. A browser sending “Do Not Track” is respected too: analytics cookies are skipped whatever the banner answer.
Changed your mind? Clear our cookies from your browser (instructions below) and reload: the banner reappears and your new answer applies.
Consent does not cover one thing: while you are signed in, account activity is logged for security, fraud prevention and settling order or payment disputes. That log rests on our legitimate interest, not consent, as a security log anyone could turn off would protect nobody. It is set out in our Privacy Policy, which also explains how to object to it.
Browser controls
Browser settings give you control over cookies. Typical options:
- Block every cookie
- Allow first-party cookies only
- Clear cookies when the browser closes
- Use private or incognito browsing
Blocking or clearing cookies can affect how the site works, and some features may stop working.
Guides for the main browsers
Third-party cookies
Third parties may also set cookies here, including:
- Google Analytics: site analytics and performance monitoring
- Payment processors: secure payment handling
- Social media plugins: if you share our content
Changes to this policy
This policy may change from time to time as our practices or the law change. Check back here now and then.
Contact
Cookie questions? Contact us:
Address
305 Holbrook Lane, Coventry CV6 4DG
Last updated: January 2026