Policies

Privacy & Cookies

Vehpix is a vehicle-garage and community service for enthusiasts. This policy explains what information we handle, why we handle it, and the choices you have. It covers everyone who uses Vehpix, whether or not you have an account.

Who we are

Vehpix ("we", "us", "our") is operated by Stuart Shepherd, an individual trading as Vehpix, of Hockley, Essex, United Kingdom. We run this website and app: the public pages, the garage features, and the community and events features. We are the controller of the personal information described here. You can reach us at vehpixsite@gmail.com, or by post at the address above.

Information you provide

When you sign in with Google, Vehpix receives account information used to identify your account, including your name, email address, and profile picture. You can choose to add a display name, UK postcode, Instagram handle, and whether other people may find your vehicle listings by your display name.

You may add vehicle details, photographs, maintenance history and attachments, community memberships and posts, and event details or attendance. Do not publish personal information, or any material, that you do not want other members to see. Some information, such as private vehicle paperwork, is intended to be available only to its owner.

Information we collect automatically

When you use Vehpix, our servers and service providers record technical information needed to run and protect the service. This can include your IP address, the pages and features you open, the approximate area you are browsing where that is needed for maps or nearby-event features, your browser and device type, and error and security logs. We use this to keep the service working, to diagnose faults, and to detect and prevent abuse.

How information is used

Vehpix uses account and submitted information to provide sign-in, maintain your garage and profile, show searchable listings where enabled, support communities and events, show advertising, and operate and protect the service. Your postcode can be used to calculate distance for nearby community and event discovery. Vehpix does not sell your personal information.

Google provides sign-in. The app also uses OpenStreetMap-based services for map and place features and Postcodes.io for UK postcode lookups. Advertising is supplied by Google and other third-party vendors. Those providers receive the information needed to answer a request or fill an advert, and handle it under their own privacy terms. We rely on providers' contractual safeguards and, where information is transferred outside the UK or EEA, on appropriate safeguards such as the UK International Data Transfer Addendum or the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses.

Cookies and similar technologies

Cookies and similar technologies are small pieces of data stored by your browser. Vehpix uses them in these categories:

• Strictly necessary. An HttpOnly refresh cookie keeps you signed in. It is required for the service to work and cannot be read by JavaScript in the page.
• Advertising. Cookies set by Google and by other third-party advertising vendors, used to measure and personalise advertising once advertising is enabled and, where the law requires it, once you consent.
• Preferences. Small browser-storage entries that remember display choices, such as your signed-in display profile and whether you have dismissed a prompt.

Vehpix does not currently use analytics cookies. You can clear or block cookies in your browser settings, and block third-party cookies. Blocking strictly necessary cookies will stop you signing in.

Advertising and third-party vendors

Vehpix displays advertising supplied by third parties, including Google AdSense. Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to Vehpix and other websites. Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visit to Vehpix and/or other sites on the internet. This is called personalised, or interest-based, advertising.

• You can opt out of personalised advertising from Google at Google Ads Settings.
• You can opt out of some third-party vendors' use of cookies for personalised advertising at aboutads.info or youronlinechoices.com.
• For how Google uses information from sites that use its services, see policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites and the Google Privacy Policy.

Where the law requires it — for example in the UK, the EEA and Switzerland — we ask for your consent before setting advertising or analytics cookies, we use a consent tool that meets Google's requirements for publishers, and we give you a way to change or withdraw that consent at any time. We do not serve personalised advertising without the consent the law requires, and we do not use advertising cookies to build profiles of children.

Advertising is not shown on the sign-in screen, and we do not place adverts on a page that has no original publisher content of its own.

Your rights and choices

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access a copy of your personal information, to have it corrected or deleted, to restrict or object to how it is used, to receive it in a portable format, and to withdraw consent you have given. In the UK you can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk). If you are in California, you may ask what personal information we collect, ask us to delete it, and ask us not to sell or share it; we do not sell personal information.

You can edit most of your information in Vehpix, and you can ask us for the rest by emailing vehpixsite@gmail.com. We will answer within the time the law allows.

Storage, retention and security

Vehpix stores account and content data on its service infrastructure, which is hosted in cloud services. The app keeps a small display-profile cache in your browser's local storage to show your signed-in identity after a reload, and uses session storage for a temporary profile-prompt preference. Authentication uses a short-lived token held in memory and a refresh cookie marked HttpOnly; JavaScript cannot read that cookie. No browser storage is perfectly secure, so keep your device and browser up to date and sign out on shared devices.

We keep account and content information while your account is active, and for a reasonable period afterwards where we need it to resolve disputes, meet legal obligations, or keep the service secure. Security and access logs are kept for a limited period. Some removed content may remain for a time in backups. You can ask us about the current retention periods for a particular kind of information.

Children

Vehpix is not directed at children. You must be at least 13 years old to create an account, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. If you believe a child has given us personal information, email vehpixsite@gmail.com and we will delete it. Uploading sexual content involving a minor is strictly prohibited and will be reported to the authorities — see Uploads & Content.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as Vehpix and its providers change. We will change the date at the top and, for important changes, give notice in the app. Questions about privacy can be sent to vehpixsite@gmail.com.

Terms of Service

By using Vehpix, you agree to these terms. Please read them together with our privacy policy, our uploads and content rules, and our community guidelines. If you do not agree, do not use Vehpix.

Who you are dealing with

These terms are between you and Stuart Shepherd, an individual trading as Vehpix, of Hockley, Essex, United Kingdom. In these terms, "Vehpix", "we", "us" and "our" mean that individual, and "you" means the person using the service. Our contact address is vehpixsite@gmail.com.

Eligibility and your account

You must be at least 13 years old to use Vehpix. If you are under 18, you may only use Vehpix with the involvement of a parent or guardian. Sign-in is through a Google account, and you must use an account you are authorised to access.

Keep your account, sign-in details and device secure, and give accurate information. You are responsible for activity through your account. One account per person; do not share your account or sell or transfer it.

Your content and the licence you give us

You keep ownership of the material you submit — photographs, documents, text, comments, community content, event details and anything else. You must have the rights and permissions needed to submit it, including permission from anyone identifiable in a photograph.

By submitting content, you give Vehpix a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, reproduce, process, adapt (for example, to resize a photograph or make a thumbnail), publish and display that content, and to make it available to other users, as needed to operate the features you use. This licence lasts while your content is on Vehpix and for as long as we need to keep a copy for backups, legal obligations, or dispute resolution. You can remove content using the controls we provide; removing it ends the licence for future use, apart from copies that remain in backups or where we must keep it.

Acceptable use

Use Vehpix lawfully and follow the rules in Uploads & Content and Community Guidelines, which form part of these terms. In particular, do not:

• misuse, disrupt, probe or attempt unauthorised access to Vehpix or another person's account or data;
• upload unlawful, abusive, deceptive, infringing or harmful material, or any nudity, pornography or obscene material;
• expose another person's private information, or use the service to spam, harass or threaten anyone;
• scrape, copy or resell Vehpix content or data, or interfere with advertising, including by generating invalid impressions or clicks.

Community owners and admins may manage membership and content within their communities.

Advertising and third-party content

Vehpix is free to use and is supported by advertising. Adverts are supplied by third parties such as Google, and we do not control which adverts are shown and do not endorse them. Your dealings with an advertiser are between you and that advertiser. Do not click adverts except out of genuine interest, and do not use automated tools to interact with them.

Availability, changes and termination

Vehpix is provided on an "as available" basis. Features may change, be unavailable, or be removed, and the service may be interrupted for maintenance. We may suspend or end your access, and remove content, where we reasonably believe these terms have been broken, where we must protect people or the service, or where the law requires it. You may stop using Vehpix at any time and ask us to close your account.

Intellectual property

The Vehpix name, design, software and original content are owned by or licensed to Vehpix and may not be copied or used without permission, except as allowed by law. Vehicle names, logos and trade marks belong to their owners and are used for identification only; their appearance on Vehpix does not imply any endorsement or affiliation. See Copyright for how to report infringement.

Disclaimers and liability

Vehpix is a place to record and share vehicles and organise communities and events; it is not a broker, dealer, inspector or insurer. To the extent permitted by law, Vehpix is not responsible for indirect or consequential loss, for loss of content, or for service interruption, and we do not guarantee that member content is accurate. Nothing in these terms limits rights or liability that cannot lawfully be limited, including for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud.

These terms do not replace your own checks when arranging a vehicle sale, purchase, event or meeting.

Governing law and changes

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction, unless the law where you live gives you the right to bring proceedings elsewhere. We may update these terms as the service changes; we will change the date at the top and, for important changes, give notice in the app. Continuing to use Vehpix after a change means you accept the updated terms.

Questions about these terms can be sent to vehpixsite@gmail.com.

Uploads & Prohibited Content

This section applies to everything you upload, post, share, link to or send through Vehpix — including vehicle photographs, community and event photos, documents, descriptions, comments and messages. It is part of our terms of service, and breaking it can cost you your account. We enforce it.

What you may upload

Upload photographs and documents that you own or have permission to use, that show your own vehicle or an event you took part in, and that are described honestly. Get the consent of anyone identifiable in a photograph before you post it, and do not upload another person's documents or personal information.

Nudity, pornography and obscene material — zero tolerance

Vehpix does not accept nudity, pornography or obscene images of any kind. You must not upload, post, share or link to:

• nudity, including exposed genitalia, buttocks or breasts;
• pornography, sexually explicit material, or depictions of sexual acts;
• sexually suggestive, fetish or adult-entertainment content, or content that advertises or solicits sexual services;
• intimate images shared without the consent of the person shown, including "revenge porn";
• any material that is obscene, indecent or grossly offensive.

We have zero tolerance for this content, whether it appears in an image, a video, a document, a profile picture, a link or text. We do not make exceptions for artistic or humorous intent. If you upload nudity, pornography or obscene images, we will remove the content; we may suspend or permanently terminate your account; and we may report the matter, together with your account details and any associated information, to the police, to the Internet Watch Foundation, or to another competent authority where the content is, or may be, illegal.

Content involving children is treated most seriously of all. Any sexual content that depicts, or appears to depict, a person under 18 is child sexual abuse material. We will remove it, preserve the evidence, and report it to the relevant authorities, including the National Crime Agency / CEOP in the UK and the Internet Watch Foundation. We will cooperate fully with law enforcement.

Other prohibited content

• Violence and cruelty. No graphic violence, gore, threats of violence, or cruelty to people or animals.
• Hate and harassment. No hate speech, discrimination, harassment, bullying or targeted abuse.
• Illegal activity. No content that promotes or facilitates crime, including the sale of illegal goods, stolen vehicles or parts, and no instructions for wrongdoing.
• Weapons, drugs and regulated goods. No offers to sell weapons, drugs or other regulated items.
• Self-harm. No content that encourages or instructs on self-harm or suicide.
• Privacy. No personal information belonging to someone else, including addresses, documents, registration plates paired with a person's identity, or anything that could enable stalking or fraud.
• Children's privacy. Do not post photographs of children who are not your own, or any image that exposes a child to harm.
• Intellectual property. No content you do not have the right to use — see Copyright.
• Spam, scams and malware. No spam, phishing, fraudulent listings, or links to malicious software.
• Misleading vehicle information. Do not misrepresent a vehicle, its history, its condition or your right to sell it.

Moderation and review

Some uploads are checked automatically for format and safety before they appear, and some photographs on events that use approval are held until an organiser or moderator lets them through. No automated check is perfect, which is why we also act on reports. We may review, remove or hide content at any time, and we may ask you to change a description or take a photograph down.

How to report prohibited content

If you see content that breaks this policy — especially nudity, pornography, obscene material, or anything involving a child — report it. Email vehpixsite@gmail.com with the subject "Report of prohibited content", and include a link to the content, what the problem is, and how we can contact you. Do not forward the content itself if it is illegal or sexual; send us the link instead.

We aim to review reports of nudity, pornography or obscene content within 24 hours, and to remove confirmed prohibited material within 24 hours of confirming it. We aim to deal with other reports within 5 working days. Where content may be illegal, we may report it to law enforcement instead of, or as well as, removing it.

Consequences and appeals

Depending on what has happened and whether it is repeated, we may remove the content, give you a warning, limit features, suspend your account, permanently close your account, and block you from creating another. Serious cases, and anything involving illegal content or child safety, may be reported to the authorities without notice to you.

If you believe we have acted in error, email vehpixsite@gmail.com with the subject "Appeal" and explain why. We will look again, but we may keep content removed while we consider an appeal.

Copyright

We respect the intellectual property rights of others, and we expect everyone who uses Vehpix to do the same. Only upload material you created or are licensed to use.

Reporting infringement

If you believe content on Vehpix infringes your copyright, email vehpixsite@gmail.com with the subject "Copyright complaint". Please include:

• your name and contact details;
• a description of the work you say has been infringed;
• the exact web address of the material on Vehpix, so we can find it;
• a statement that you believe the use is not authorised by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law;
• a statement that the information you have given is accurate, and that you are the copyright owner or authorised to act for them;
• your physical or electronic signature.

We will review the notice, remove or disable access to the material where it is appropriate, and tell the person who posted it.

If your content was removed

If we removed your content and you believe you had the right to post it, email vehpixsite@gmail.com with the subject "Copyright counter-notice", explaining why, with your contact details and a statement that you accept responsibility for the content. We will consider it and may restore the content where that is appropriate.

Repeat infringers

Accounts that repeatedly post infringing material will be suspended or closed. Trade marks of vehicle manufacturers and other brands belong to their owners and may only be used for honest identification.

Community Guidelines

Vehpix communities bring vehicle enthusiasts together. Help make them welcoming, useful and safe for everyone.

• Be respectful. No harassment, hate speech, threats, discrimination, or targeted abuse.
• Share genuine, relevant content. Do not spam, impersonate others, or mislead members.
• Keep it clean. No nudity, pornography or obscene images — our Uploads & Content rules are enforced with zero tolerance, and serious breaches are reported to the authorities.
• Respect privacy and rights. Share only information, photographs and documents you are entitled to use, and do not post another person's personal or vehicle details without permission.
• Keep meetups safe. Follow the law, venue rules, and road-safety requirements; do not encourage dangerous driving or unsafe vehicle use.
• Respect community owners and admins. Follow the community's stated purpose and membership decisions, and raise concerns constructively.
• Report content or behaviour that appears unsafe or breaks these guidelines by emailing vehpixsite@gmail.com with the subject "Report of prohibited content".

Vehpix may review reports and take proportionate action, including removing content or restricting access. Reports of nudity, pornography, obscene material or anything involving a child are prioritised and can lead to permanent removal and a report to law enforcement.