Legal

Cookie Policy

Website operator: Gerard Gartlan, trading as Gerry's Driving School
Website: www.gerrysdrivingschool.net
Contact: Gerard.gartlan@hotmail.com · 087 275 9482
Effective date: 10 September 2026

This Cookie Policy explains how Gerry's Driving School ("GDS", "we", "us") uses cookies and similar technologies on our website and how these technologies may be used when visitors follow our booking and payment links to RoadReady and Stripe.

Current position: confirmed by direct technical check against both live sites (response headers, browser cookie store and DevTools) on 8–10 September 2026 by GDS's website developer: gerrysdrivingschool.net sets no cookies of its own and loads no third-party JavaScript beyond Google Fonts. RoadReady (getmeroadready.ie) sets necessary booking and CSRF-protection cookies, and Stripe (also first-party on getmeroadready.ie) sets fraud-prevention cookies as soon as the booking page loads. No analytics or advertising cookie exists anywhere on either site, and no other Stripe cookie beyond __stripe_mid and __stripe_sid is present. This register must be reviewed whenever the website, booking system, payment flow or advertising setup changes.

1. What cookies are

Cookies are small text files stored on a computer, phone or other device when a website is visited. Similar technologies include local storage, pixels, tags, software development kits and device identifiers. They can help a service operate securely, remember choices, process payments, measure use or support advertising.

Strictly necessary cookies may be used without consent where they are required to provide a service explicitly requested by the visitor or to transmit communications. Other cookies, including analytics, advertising, conversion-tracking and social-media tracking cookies, must not be stored or accessed until the visitor has given valid consent, unless a specific legal exemption applies.

Consent must be freely given, specific, informed and indicated by a clear action. Visitors must be able to reject non-essential cookies and later change or withdraw consent as easily as they gave it.

3. Cookie categories

Strictly necessary

These cookies support security, booking sessions, fraud prevention and payment functions requested by the visitor. Disabling them may prevent the booking or payment service from working.

Preferences and functionality

These remember optional choices such as display or language settings. They require consent unless genuinely essential to a feature the visitor has requested.

Analytics

These measure visits, page use and website performance. A direct technical check of both gerrysdrivingschool.net and getmeroadready.ie (headers and browser cookie store, 8 September 2026) found no analytics cookie on either site. If analytics is introduced, it must be listed in this policy and blocked until consent.

Advertising and social media

These may measure campaigns, track conversions, create audiences or personalise advertising. The same technical check found no advertising tracker on gerrysdrivingschool.net (which loads no JavaScript beyond Google Fonts) or on getmeroadready.ie (which loads only Stripe.js). Links to Facebook, TikTok and YouTube do not themselves mean that those platforms set cookies on the GDS site; their own cookies may apply after a visitor follows a link to their services.

4. Current cookie register

The following cookies may be used when a visitor accesses the RoadReady booking flow or Stripe payment functions linked from the GDS website. gerrysdrivingschool.net itself sets no cookies at all; every cookie below is set on getmeroadready.ie, the RoadReady-hosted page visitors are sent to for booking and payment. Because Stripe.js runs directly on that page rather than redirecting to a separate Stripe-hosted checkout, Stripe's cookies are set as first-party cookies on getmeroadready.ie, and load as soon as the booking page opens rather than only once card details are entered.

CookieProviderCategoryPurposeDuration
XSRF-TOKENRoadReady (getmeroadready.ie)NecessaryProtects booking forms and requests against cross-site request forgery.2 hours (Secure, SameSite=Lax)
roadready_sessionRoadReady (getmeroadready.ie)NecessaryMaintains the booking session and keeps the service secure while the visitor completes a booking.2 hours (Secure, HttpOnly, SameSite=Lax)
__stripe_midStripe (first-party on getmeroadready.ie)Necessary / fraud preventionHelps Stripe assess the risk associated with an attempted payment and distinguish legitimate activity.1 year (Secure, SameSite=Strict)
__stripe_sidStripe (first-party on getmeroadready.ie)Necessary / fraud preventionShort-lived identifier used by Stripe to assess payment-session risk.30 minutes (Secure, SameSite=Strict)

Stripe and RoadReady may change their technologies as their services develop. Cookies are only set when the relevant booking or payment function is used. Cookie names and durations above were confirmed directly against the live sites (response headers, browser cookie store and DevTools) between 8 and 10 September 2026, including a specific check that confirmed no Stripe cookie beyond __stripe_mid and __stripe_sid is set. Their own privacy and cookie information should be read alongside this policy.

5. Cookies on linked third-party services

The GDS website links to RoadReady's booking page, which in turn loads Stripe.js for payment. Stripe's cookies are set as first-party cookies on getmeroadready.ie rather than on a stripe.com domain, but Stripe remains a separate data controller for the information those cookies collect, and its own privacy and cookie information should be read alongside this policy. The GDS website also links to Facebook, TikTok and YouTube; when a visitor follows one of those links, the platform controls its own site and may set cookies under its own notices. GDS does not control cookies placed solely on another provider's website, although we select suppliers and links with privacy and security in mind.

6. How to manage cookie choices

Where the GDS site uses non-essential cookies, the cookie banner must provide these choices with comparable prominence:

A permanent Cookie Settings link should be available in the website footer so visitors can change or withdraw consent at any time. Withdrawing consent does not affect processing that occurred lawfully before withdrawal.

Visitors can also delete or block cookies through browser settings. Blocking necessary cookies may prevent online booking or payment functions from operating. Browser controls apply separately on each browser and device.

As of 8 September 2026, no cookie banner is in place on either gerrysdrivingschool.net or getmeroadready.ie. This is because every cookie currently in use — the RoadReady booking session and CSRF cookies, and Stripe's fraud-prevention cookies — is assessed as strictly necessary and does not require consent. This position holds only for as long as nothing else is added: the moment any analytics, advertising or similar non-essential technology goes live, a compliant banner becomes mandatory before that technology may run (see section 7).

7. Advertising and analytics changes

Website owner requirement: before activating Meta Pixel, Google Analytics, Google Ads, TikTok Pixel or any similar technology, GDS must update the cookie register with the exact cookie names, providers, purposes and durations, configure the consent banner, and confirm that the technology remains blocked until consent.

8. Personal data and international transfers

Some cookie identifiers may be personal data when they relate to an identifiable person or device. Details about the purposes, legal bases, recipients, retention, international transfers and individual rights are provided in the GDS Privacy & Data Protection Notice. Third-party providers may process information outside the European Economic Area using the safeguards described in their own notices.

9. Updates to this policy

We may update this policy when cookies, suppliers, website functions or legal requirements change. The effective date at the top will be revised. GDS should perform a fresh cookie scan after any website or booking-system change and at reasonable intervals even where no change is planned.

10. Contact

Questions about cookies or privacy can be sent to:
Gerry's Driving School — Gerard Gartlan, RSA-approved ADI 34225
Email: Gerard.gartlan@hotmail.com
Telephone: 087 275 9482
Website: www.gerrysdrivingschool.net

See also our Privacy & Data Protection Notice and Booking Terms, Cancellation & Refund Policy.