Terms of use

About us and these terms

PetLocate (petlocate.uk) is run by Paul Mallon, a sole trader trading as Tindish, based in the United Kingdom. "We", "us" and "our" mean PetLocate. You can contact us at info@petlocate.uk.

By creating an account, or by using PetLocate to look up, report or contact anyone about a pet, you agree to these terms. How we handle personal information is explained in our privacy policy.

What PetLocate is, and isn't

PetLocate helps lost pets get home. Owners register their pets and get a PetLocate ID. Anyone who finds a pet can enter its PetLocate ID or microchip number, and we let the owner know, without either side having to share their contact details unless they choose to.

PetLocate is currently free to use. We may introduce paid products or features, or advertising, in future. If we do, we'll tell you before they apply to you, and you'll never be charged for anything you haven't chosen to buy.

• We are not a microchip database. PetLocate is not one of the government-compliant microchip databases. If the law requires your pet to be microchipped (as it does for dogs, and for cats in England), you must still keep their chip registered and your details up to date with their microchip database. PetLocate works alongside that, never instead of it.
• A PetLocate ID doesn't replace a dog's identity tag. By law, a dog in a public place must wear a collar with the owner's name and address on it. Put the PetLocate ID alongside those details.
• We can't guarantee a reunion. We do everything we can to connect finders and owners, but we can't control whether a pet is found, whether a finder gets in touch, or what happens afterwards.
• We don't check what people tell us. We don't verify that a person owns a pet, or that a report is genuine, though we do act on reports of misuse.

Your account

• You must be 16 or over and live in the UK to create an account.
• Give us accurate details and keep them up to date, especially your email address: it's how we tell you your pet has been found.
• Keep your password safe and don't share your account. Tell us straight away if you think someone else has used it.
• You're responsible for what happens in your account.

Registering your pets

• Only register pets you own or are responsible for, and only one account per pet.
• Make sure what you add is accurate, including the microchip number. A wrong number could send someone else's pet to you, or yours to someone else.
• If you rehome or sell a pet, or they pass away, update or remove them, so their PetLocate ID and chip number don't keep pointing to you.
• You decide what, if anything, is shown publicly about your pet. Anything you make public can be seen and copied by anyone.

If you find a pet

• Only report a pet you've genuinely found or seen, and describe it honestly.
• A found pet still belongs to its owner. Please don't keep, sell or rehome it.
• If you find a stray dog and can't return it to its owner, the law requires you to take it to, or tell, your local council's dog warden service.
• If an animal is injured or in danger, contact a vet or the RSPCA (Scottish SPCA in Scotland, USPCA in Northern Ireland) first. Don't put yourself at risk.

Vets, rescues and dog wardens

• A professional account is free, for UK vet practices, animal rescues and council dog warden services. We check every organisation by hand before switching it on, and we can refuse one without giving a reason.
• Only apply if you work for the organisation and can act for it. Keep its details up to date, especially its phone number, which owners are given.
• Use it only to identify animals in your care and reunite them with their owners. Never look up a pet for any other reason, and never use what you see to contact an owner about anything else.
• Every pet you look up is shown to its owner with your organisation's name, town and phone number. Only record an animal as in your care if it really is.
• What owners share with professionals, including medical notes, is for that animal's care only. Don't copy it into other systems except as your own professional duties require, and don't share it with anyone else.
• We can withdraw professional access at any time if we think an account is being misused, and the account then works as an ordinary one.
• PetLocate works alongside the microchip databases, not instead of them. Keep following your usual scanning and legal duties for strays.

Rules for everyone

When you use PetLocate, you must not:

• make false or misleading reports, or claim a pet that isn't yours;
• ask for money, rewards or personal details under false pretences, or use PetLocate to run any kind of scam;
• harass, threaten or abuse anyone, or send anything hateful, sexual or violent;
• post anything illegal, or anything that infringes someone else's rights, such as photos you don't have permission to use;
• use PetLocate to find, track or contact a person for any reason other than reuniting a pet;
• pretend to be someone else, or to be a vet, rescue or official when you're not;
• copy or harvest information from PetLocate with automated tools, or try to look up IDs or chip numbers in bulk;
• interfere with, overload or try to break into PetLocate or its security.

What you add to PetLocate

Photos, descriptions and messages you add stay yours. You give us permission to store them, and to show them to the people you've chosen to share them with, for as long as they're on PetLocate. That permission ends when you delete them or your account, apart from copies that remain in backups for a short time.

You must have the right to share anything you add. We can remove anything that breaks these terms, or that we reasonably believe puts someone at risk.

Reporting problems and complaints

If you see or receive anything on PetLocate that's illegal, harmful, a scam, or breaks these terms, please tell us. You don't need an account. There are three ways:

• A message about your pet: use "Report as spam or abuse" on the message. It also blocks the sender from contacting you again.
• A pet's page, or anything else: use Report a problem. There's a link on every pet's page, at the bottom of every page, and in every email we send.
• Email: info@petlocate.uk, with as much detail as you can.

If someone is in danger right now, call 999.

What happens next:

• A person reviews every report, within 2 working days, and the same day where a child, a person or an animal may be at risk.
• We never tell the person you reported who you are.
• Depending on what we find, we may remove the content, hide a pet's page, block the sender, or suspend or close an account. Where the law requires it, or someone's safety is at risk, we'll report it to the police or other authorities.
• If you gave us your email, we'll tell you what we did, though sometimes we can't share details about another person's account.

Appeals. If we've removed something of yours or restricted your account, we'll email to tell you why. If you think we got it wrong, reply to that email or write to info@petlocate.uk. A person who wasn't involved in the first decision where possible will look at it again, promptly, and tell you the outcome. If we reverse the decision, we'll put things back as they were.

Complaints about us. You can also complain if you think we're not doing what the law requires of us to keep people safe from illegal content, or that we've got the balance wrong on your freedom of expression or privacy. Email info@petlocate.uk. We'll acknowledge it and reply with what we've decided, normally within 10 working days.

How we deal with illegal content

Very little on PetLocate is shared publicly, and only what owners choose: a pet's photos and description. Messages from finders go only to the pet's owner. Here's how we keep illegal content off PetLocate, as the Online Safety Act requires.

• Child sexual abuse and exploitation: we remove it as soon as we're aware of it, close the account or block the sender involved, and report it to the National Crime Agency and the Internet Watch Foundation. We never forward or keep copies beyond what the law requires. Photos sent to owners are hidden until the owner chooses to see them.
• Terrorism: we remove it as soon as we're aware of it, close any account run by or for a proscribed organisation, and report it to the police.
• Other illegal content, such as threats, harassment, hate, fraud, intimate images shared without consent, unwanted sexual images, or animal cruelty: we remove it swiftly once we're aware of it, block or suspend the person responsible, and report it to the police where someone is at risk.
• We become aware of content through your reports and through our own review of anything reported. We don't use automated scanning or other proactive technology to find illegal content.
• To make illegal content harder to spread in the first place: nothing is public unless an owner chooses, finders can't send links that open, messages are limited per sender, owners can block anyone, and an owner being targeted can change their pet's PetLocate ID.

Keeping children safe

You must be 16 or over to create an account. We ask for your age when you sign up and don't check it further, so we treat PetLocate as a service children may use, especially to help a pet they've found, which needs no account. PetLocate is about pets, and nothing else belongs here.

None of the following is allowed anywhere on PetLocate, for anyone of any age:

• Pornography
• Content that encourages, promotes or gives instructions for suicide
• Content that encourages, promotes or gives instructions for self-harm
• Content that encourages, promotes or gives instructions for an eating disorder
• Abuse or hate aimed at people because of who they are
• Bullying
• Violent content, including content showing serious violence against people or animals
• Content encouraging dangerous stunts or challenges
• Content encouraging the use of harmful substances

This applies to everything: pet pages, photos, and messages between finders and owners. The same protections apply to all ages. Children are protected from this content in these ways:

• Very little is public, and only what an owner chooses: a pet's photos and description.
• Messages only ever pass between one finder and one owner, about one pet. A photo sent with a message stays hidden until the owner chooses to see it.
• There's no chat, no comments, no feeds, no search of other users and no public profiles, so there's no way to come across other people's content by browsing.
• Anyone can report anything with Report a problem, without an account. We remove content like this as soon as we're aware of it, and the same day where a child may be at risk, and we block or suspend the person responsible.
• We don't use automated scanning or other proactive technology. We act on reports and our own review.

Staying safe

• Never pay anyone to get your pet back. Fake "I've found your pet" messages asking for money, or for a "delivery fee", are a known scam.
• Before handing over a pet, ask the person claiming it for proof, such as photos or the microchip paperwork.
• If you arrange to meet, choose a busy public place, or ask a vet, rescue centre or the police to help with the handover.
• Only share your phone number or address when you're comfortable to. PetLocate is designed so you never have to.

Our responsibility to you

We provide PetLocate with reasonable care and skill. We'll do our best to keep it running and secure, but we can't promise it will always be available or free of errors, and we may change or stop features from time to time.

If we fail to use reasonable care and skill, we're responsible for loss or damage you suffer that was a foreseeable result of that failure. We're not responsible for:

• loss or damage that wasn't foreseeable;
• what other people do, including finders, owners and anyone you choose to contact or meet;
• a pet not being found or returned;
• losses to a business, as PetLocate is for personal use.

Nothing in these terms limits our responsibility for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else the law doesn't allow us to limit. Nothing in them affects your legal rights as a consumer.

Closing or suspending accounts

You can delete your account at any time in your settings. This deletes your pets and their details as described in our privacy policy.

We may suspend or close an account that seriously or repeatedly breaks these terms, or where we need to protect other people, animals or PetLocate itself. Unless there's a safety or legal reason not to, we'll tell you why and give you the chance to respond.

Changes and the law

We may update these terms as PetLocate develops. We'll change the date at the top, and if a change is significant, we'll email registered owners before it takes effect. If you don't agree with a change, you can delete your account.

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. If a dispute reaches court, you can bring it in the courts of England and Wales, or of Scotland or Northern Ireland if you live there. If any part of these terms turns out to be unenforceable, the rest still applies.