Double Reed Ltd trading as Ludlow Bassoons
This policy explains how we collect, use, share and protect personal information when you visit our website, contact us, join our mailing list, visit our workshop, buy or sell an instrument, arrange a trial, commission an instrument, use our repair or restoration services, or otherwise deal with us.
We aim to use personal information carefully, transparently and only for proper purposes connected with our work. This policy applies to customers, prospective customers, instrument owners, trial recipients, website visitors, mailing-list subscribers, suppliers, distributors, retailers and other business contacts.
In brief
We use personal information to respond to enquiries, provide and improve our products and services, fulfil contracts, keep our website and business secure, meet legal obligations and - where pepermitted - keep people informed about Ludlow Bassoons. We do not sell personal information.
1. Who we are
Double Reed Ltd is the organisation responsible for the personal information described in this policy. Ludlow Bassoons is a trading name of Double Reed Ltd. Our company number is 07788113 and our registered office is at 38 Fields Park Road, Newport, NP20 5BB, United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 (0)1633 677729 Email: enquiries@ludlowbassoons.com
For data-protection questions, rights requests or complaints, please use the email or postal address above and mark your message for the attention of the Data Protection Contact.
2. Personal information we collect
Identity and contact information, including your name, title, postal and delivery addresses, email address, telephone number and organisation or professional role.
Account and communication information, correspondence, enquiry history, preferences and records of calls, meetings or workshop visits.
Order and transaction information, including products or services requested, quotations, invoices, payments, refunds, delivery details, warranty records and transaction history.
Instrument and service information, including make, model, serial number, photographs, condition, provenance, ownership, repair records, specifications and information needed for a commission sale, valuation, trial, service, restoration or bespoke build.
Trial, commission and verification information, including identification, proof of address, ownership evidence, references, insurance information and information used to assess fraud, security, sanctions, export or stolen-property risks.
Financial information, such as bank details needed to make or receive payments and limited payment status or reference information supplied by payment providers. Where a payment provider collects full card details directly, we do not receive the card number or security code.
Marketing information, including your subscription status, communication preferences, interests and interaction with emails or website content where the relevant technology is used lawfully.
Technical and usage information, including IP address, device and browser information, approximate location, referring page, pages viewed, dates, times, security logs, cookie identifiers and similar information.
Records and evidence needed to meet legal or regulatory obligations, resolve complaints, establish legal claims, protect our customers and instruments, or prevent fraud and misuse.
Sensitive information
We do not normally need special category personal information, such as health, biometric, religious or political information. Please do not send it unless it is relevant and necessary. If you provide accessibility or health information so that we can accommodate a visit, trial or service, we will use it only for that purpose and with an appropriate legal basis.
3. Where the information comes from
We usually obtain personal information directly from you. We may also receive it from:
someone acting for you, such as a family member, teacher, colleague, representative or authorised adviser;
an instrument owner, buyer, seller, trial recipient, distributor, retailer, repairer, insurer, carrier or other person involved in a transaction or service;
payment, identity-verification, fraud-prevention, website, analytics, email and other service providers;
public sources, including company registers, professional websites, sanctions lists and stolen-property or instrument records; and
cookies and similar technologies used on our website, subject to the choices explained in section 8.
If you give us personal information about another person, please make sure you are entitled to do so and, where appropriate, have directed that person to this policy.
4. How and why we use personal information
Data-protection law requires us to have a lawful basis for each use of personal information. The main activities, purposes and lawful bases relevant to our work are set out below. More than one basis may apply to the same information.
Activity and information: Enquiries, quotations, waiting lists, workshop visits and commissioning discussions.
Why we use it: To respond, understand your requirements, arrange visits and take steps towards an agreement.
Lawful basis: At your request before a contract; legitimate interests in communicating and developing our business.
Activity and information: Sales, bespoke commissions, repairs, restorations, trials, commission sales, delivery, warranty and after-sales support
Why we use it: To enter into and perform agreements, provide services, keep transaction records and handle questions, returns and claims.
Lawful basis: Contract; legitimate interests; legal obligation.
Activity and information: Instrument identity, ownership, provenance, condition, serial numbers and service history
Why we use it: To describe and work on instruments accurately, establish title, support safety and authenticity, prevent fraud and maintain appropriate instrument records.
Lawful basis: Contract; legitimate interests in protecting customers, instruments and our business; legal obligation where applicable.
Activity and information: Payments, refunds, accounting, tax and business administration
Why we use it: To take and make payments, issue invoices, keep accounts and comply with tax, customs and financial record-keeping duties.
Lawful basis: Contract; legal obligation; legitimate interests in managing our business.
Activity and information: Identity, address, transaction and risk information
Why we use it: To protect valuable instruments, assess trial and payment risks, prevent theft and fraud, comply with sanctions or export requirements, and establish or defend legal claims.
Lawful basis: Legitimate interests; legal obligation; recognised legitimate interests where the law permits.
Activity and information: Website, device, cookie, log and security information
Why we use it: To operate, secure, troubleshoot and improve the website; measure use; remember choices; and prevent abuse.
Lawful basis: Legitimate interests; consent where required; or an applicable statutory exception for storage or access technologies.
Activity and information: Mailing-list, marketing preference and engagement information
Why we use it: To send news, articles, product information, events and offers, measure communications and respect opt-outs.
Lawful basis: Consent or legitimate interests, subject to the electronic-marketing rules.
Activity and information: Customer comments, photographs, recordings and testimonials
Why we use it: To publish material where agreed and communicate about our work.
Lawful basis: Consent, or legitimate interests where use is reasonably expected and lawful. We will seek specific agreement for promotional use of an identifiable customer.
Activity and information: Complaints, rights requests, disputes and legal correspondence
Why we use it: To investigate and respond, keep people informed, comply with the law and establish, exercise or defend legal rights.
Lawful basis: Legal obligation; legitimate interests.
Activity and information: Supplier, distributor, retailer and professional contact information
Why we use it: To manage commercial relationships, product distribution, safety, warranty, events and communications.
Lawful basis: Contract; legitimate interests; legal obligation.
Our legitimate interests
Where we rely on legitimate interests, those interests include running and developing a specialist musical-instrument business, responding to people who contact us, protecting customers and valuable instruments, maintaining accurate provenance and service records, improving our website and services, preventing fraud, securing our systems, communicating with relevant business contacts and establishing or defending legal rights. We consider whether the use is necessary and balance these interests against the rights and reasonable expectations of the people concerned.
5. Commission sales and instrument trials
Commission sales and trials require particular care because we may hold information about an instrument owner, prospective buyer and trial recipient at the same time.
Where we act as a disclosed sales agent, we may identify the instrument owner as the seller and state whether the owner is acting privately or in trade. We may provide further details where necessary to form or perform the sale, issue a lawful invoice, establish title or resolve a claim.
We may give an owner or buyer information about the other party where this is necessary for the transaction, legal compliance, safety, insurance or dispute handling. We do not provide contact details merely for marketing or curiosity.
We use trial-recipient information to assess and arrange the trial, delivery, insurance or risk protection, contact the recipient, recover the instrument and deal with loss, damage, payment or a dispute.
Instrument serial numbers, service history and non-personal provenance information may be retained for longer than ordinary correspondence where this supports authenticity, safety, warranty, theft prevention or future care of the instrument. We minimise or remove personal information where it is no longer needed.
6. Marketing communications
We may send news, articles, event information, product updates and offers where you have asked to receive them, where the law permits us to contact an existing customer about similar products or services, or where business-to-business marketing is otherwise lawful. Consent and legitimate interests are the lawful bases most likely to apply, depending on the recipient and circumstances.
Every marketing email will identify us and provide a simple way to unsubscribe. You can also opt out at any time by contacting us. We may keep a minimal suppression record after an opt-out so that we do not contact you again by mistake. Service messages about an enquiry, order, trial, repair, safety issue or existing agreement are not marketing and may still be sent where necessary.
Your unconditional right to object to direct marketing
You may ask us at any time to stop using your personal information for direct marketing. We will comply. Use the unsubscribe link in an email or contact us using the details in section 1.
We may use ordinary segmentation - such as instrument interests, professional role, location or previous enquiries - to make communications more relevant. We do not use this to make decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you.
7. Sharing personal information
We disclose personal information only where there is a proper reason. Depending on the circumstances, recipients may include:
our directors, employees and contractors who need the information for their work;
website hosting, IT support, cybersecurity, cloud storage, customer-management, email, analytics, cookie-management, payment and fraud-prevention providers;
professional advisers, including accountants, lawyers, insurers and auditors;
carriers, customs agents, payment providers, banks, insurers, repairers, photographers and other suppliers involved in providing a product or service;
authorised distributors and retailers, including where they arrange a demonstration, sale, delivery, warranty service or product-safety action;
instrument owners, buyers, sellers and trial recipients where disclosure is necessary for the relevant transaction, trial, legal obligation or dispute;
HM Revenue and Customs, customs authorities, regulators, courts, law enforcement and other public authorities where required or lawfully requested; and
a buyer, investor or adviser in connection with a proposed sale or reorganisation of all or part of our business, subject to appropriate confidentiality and data-protection arrangements.
Service providers acting for us may use personal information only under our instructions and for agreed purposes, unless they are independently responsible for a particular use. Distributors, retailers, payment providers and public authorities may act as separate controllers and provide their own privacy information.
We do not sell personal information.
8. Cookies and similar technologies
Our website may use cookies, pixels, local storage, tags and similar storage or access technologies. These may be used to:
provide essential functions, security and fraud prevention;
understand how visitors use the site and measure performance;
support embedded media, social features or communications; and
We provide information and choices through the website's cookie notice and cookie settings. We ask for consent before using non-exempt technologies where consent is required. Some essential, security, statistical or appearance functions may be used without consent where a statutory exception applies and its conditions are met, including any required information and simple means of objecting. You can change your choices through the cookie settings and may also control cookies through your browser.
The cookie notice should be read with this policy because it identifies the technologies actually in use, their providers, purposes and durations.
9. International transfers
We are based in the United Kingdom and deal with customers, suppliers, distributors and service providers internationally. Personal information may therefore be accessed or transferred outside the United Kingdom, including when we arrange an overseas sale, trial, delivery, repair or warranty service, or use an international technology provider.
Where UK data-protection law treats a transfer as restricted, we use a lawful transfer mechanism. This may include UK adequacy regulations, the UK International Data Transfer Agreement, the UK Addendum to approved contractual clauses, or another permitted safeguard or exception. We also consider the protection available in the destination and apply additional measures where appropriate. Contact us if you would like more information about the safeguards relevant to a particular transfer.
If another country's data-protection law also applies to our activities, we will respect the additional rights and safeguards required by that law. An overseas distributor or retailer will normally be separately responsible for the information it collects for its own retail and compliance purposes.
10. How long we keep personal information
We keep personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, including legal, accounting, safety, insurance and dispute-resolution needs. Our usual starting points are:
Unconverted enquiries and quotations: Normally up to 2 years after the last meaningful contact, unless a longer period is justified by the nature of the enquiry.
Sales, commissions, repairs, restorations, trials, warranties and other contracts: Normally 7 years after completion or the end of the relationship, and longer where needed for a live warranty, complaint, claim or legal duty.
Invoices, payments, tax and customs records: For the period required by tax, accounting and customs law, normally at least 6 years after the relevant accounting period.
Trial verification and identity evidence: Normally up to 2 years after the trial ends, unless linked to a transaction, incident, dispute, fraud concern or legal requirement.
Marketing records: Until you unsubscribe or we determine that the record is no longer useful or accurate. We periodically review inactive records. A minimal suppression record may be kept after an opt-out.
Website logs and analytics: For the period stated in the cookie notice or service settings, and no longer than reasonably needed for security, measurement and troubleshooting.
Complaints and rights requests: Normally 3 years after closure, or longer where necessary for a continuing claim or legal obligation.
Instrument identity, safety, provenance and service records: Potentially for the useful life of the instrument where there is a continuing authenticity, safety, warranty, theft-prevention or service need; personal details are minimised where possible.
Actual retention may be shorter or longer where the amount, nature and sensitivity of the information, the risk of harm, the purpose, a legal requirement or a dispute justifies a different period. When information is no longer needed, we delete it securely or anonymise it.
11. Security
We use appropriate technical and organisational measures intended to protect personal information against accidental or unlawful loss, alteration, access, disclosure or destruction. Measures may include access controls, secure accounts and devices, encryption where appropriate, backups, supplier due diligence, staff confidentiality and procedures for managing incidents.
No website, email system or method of transmission can be guaranteed completely secure. Please take care when sending sensitive documents, and contact us first if you need a secure way to provide identification, bank details or other confidential information. We will never ask you to confirm a change of bank details without appropriate verification.
12. Your data-protection rights
Depending on the circumstances and the lawful basis you may have the right to:
ask us for access to the personal information we hold about you;
ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information;
ask us to erase information in certain circumstances;
ask us to restrict how information is used in certain circumstances;
object to processing based on legitimate interests or recognised legitimate interests;
object at any time to direct marketing;
receive certain information in a portable, machine-readable form where the right to data portability applies;
withdraw consent at any time where we rely on consent, without affecting earlier lawful use; and
complain to us or to the Information Commissioner's Office.
These rights are not absolute. We may need to retain or continue using information where the law permits or requires it, including for contracts, legal obligations and legal claims. We may ask for information reasonably necessary to confirm your identity and understand the request. We will normally respond within one month, subject to any lawful extension.
To exercise a right, contact us using the details in section 1. You will not usually have to pay a fee.
13. Data-protection complaints
If you are concerned about how we use personal information, please contact us so that we can investigate. Email enquiries@ludlowbassoons.com with the subject line Data protection complaint, or write to the registered office in section 1.
We will acknowledge a data-protection complaint within 30 days, take appropriate steps to investigate and respond without undue delay, and keep you informed of progress.
You may also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office. Information about making a complaint is available at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint. If another country's data-protection law applies, you may also have the right to complain to the relevant local supervisory authority.
14. Children
Our website and services are intended for adults, professional musicians, students and organisations. We do not knowingly seek personal information from children under 13 through the website. A person under 18 who wishes to arrange a purchase, sale, trial, workshop visit or other transaction should involve a parent or guardian. We may ask for the parent or guardian's details and authority where appropriate.
15. External websites and social media
Our website may link to external websites, embedded media and social-media services. Those organisations control their own use of personal information. Their privacy information applies when you follow a link, use an embedded feature or interact with them. A link does not make us responsible for their privacy practices.
16. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy when our services, website technologies, suppliers or legal obligations change. The current version will be published on our website with its last-updated date. We will draw attention to a material change where it would be reasonable to do so.
Last updated 1 October 2026
