Our site uses cookies. This helps us to distinguish you from other users if our site and to provide you with a good experience when you browse our site. We also use cookies to help us to improve the site.
By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.
A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your device. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your device's hard drive.
You can find more information about the individual cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them in the table below:
| Cookie | Name | Purpose | More Information |
| .ASPXAUTH | ASP.Net Forms Authentication Ticket | Contains a user's authentication information, meaning the user does not have to re-enter their login details for every request to the website. | Categorised by the ICO As "Strictly Necessary". This cookie is a necessity to the functionality of the website. Can be session based or persistent – depending on the user's "Remember Me" choice when logging in. Persistent expiration: 3 days. The cookie has a sliding expiration, meaning that the expiration is reset every time a user performs and action which makes a request to the server. |
| ASP.NET_SessionId | ASP.Net Session Cookie | Contains a reference to the user's session in order for the server to identify the user over multiple requests. | Categorised by the ICO As "Strictly Necessary". This cookie is a necessity to the functionality of the website. It is always session based. |
| AuthTokenTMC-A | Authorisation cookie token | Contains a user's authentication information, meaning the user does not have to re-enter their login details for every request to the website. | This compliments of the .ASPXAUTH cookie. |
| AuthTokenTMC-B | Authorisation cookie token for legacy functions | Contains a user's authentication information, meaning the user does not have to re-enter their login details for every request to the website. | This compliments of the .ASPXAUTH cookie. |
| NID | Preference Cookie | Most Google users will have a preferences cookie called 'NID’ in their browsers. A browser sends this cookie with requests to Google’s sites. | The NID cookie contains a unique ID Google uses to remember your preferences and other information, such as your preferred language (e.g. English), how many search results you wish to have shown per page (e.g. 10 Or 20), and whether or not you wish to have Google's SafeSearch filter turned on. |
| __RequestVerificationToken_L3RyYWNrbXljbGFpbQ2 | Anti-forgery token | Helps to prevent malicious users hijacking session details and sending spurious requests to the webserver. | It is an anti forgery token (prevent CSRF attack). It guarantees that the poster is the one who gets the form. |
| _ga | Google Analytics User Cookie | Used to distinguish users. | Used as part of a google analytics services. Google analytics is used to help monitor usage of the site and improve performance, efficiency and usability. No personally identifiable information i collected. Persistent – 2 year expiration. |
| _gat | Google Analytics Throttle | Used to throttle request rate To the Google Analytics service. | Used as part of a google analytics services. Google analytics Is used to help monitor usage of the site and improve performance, efficiency and usability. No personally identifiable information is collected. Persistent – 10 minute expiration. |
| _gid | Google Analytics User Cookie | Used to distinguish users. | Used as part of a google analytics services. Google analytics is used to help monitor usage of the site and improve performance, efficiency and usability. No personally identifiable information is collected. Persistent – 24 hour expiration. |
Please note that third parties (including, for example, social networking sites, video or flash content and advertising networks) may also use cookies, over which we have no control.
You can block cookies by activating the setting on your device browser that allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including cookies that are essential) you may not be able to access all or parts of our site.
To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit www.aboutcookies.org Or www.allaboutcookies.org.
Updated: May 2018