Acceptable use policy

This acceptable use policy sets out the content standards that apply when you upload content to our site, make contact with other users on our site, link to our site, or interact with our site in any other way.

By accessing any part of this site you will be deemed to have accepted these terms and conditions in full. Please read them carefully. If you do not agree with all these terms and conditions, stop using the site. You may wish to print a copy of these terms for future reference.

Markel Direct is a site operated by Markel (UK) Limited, registered under company number 02430992 with its registered office at 20 Fenchurch Street, London, EC3M 3AZ (“We” / “Markel Direct”). We are an appointed representative of Markel International Insurance Company Limited. Markel (UK) Limited only places insurance policies with Markel International Insurance Company Limited which is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority.

Markel Corporation is the ultimate holding company for Markel (UK) Limited.

To contact us, please email customerservice@markeldirect.co.uk or telephone our customer service line on 0800 640 6600.

Prohibited uses

We only consent to the lawful use of our site. This means you can’t use our site:

• In any way that breaches any applicable local, national or international law or regulation.
• In any way that is unlawful or fraudulent, or has any unlawful or fraudulent purpose or effect.
• For the purpose of harming or attempting to harm minors in any way.
• To send, knowingly receive, upload, download, use or re-use any material which doesn’t comply with our content standards (see below).
• To transmit, or procure the sending of, any unsolicited or unauthorised advertising or promotional material or any other form of similar solicitation (spam).
• To knowingly transmit any data, send or upload any material that contains viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time-bombs, keystroke loggers, spyware, adware or any other harmful programs or similar computer code designed to adversely affect the operation of any computer software or hardware.

You also agree:

• Not to reproduce, duplicate, copy or re-sell any part of our site in contravention of the provisions of our sites Terms of Use
• Not to access without authority, interfere with, damage or disrupt:
• any part of our site;
• any equipment or network on which our site is stored;
• any software used in the provision of our site; or
• any equipment or network or software owned or used by any third party.

Interactive services

We may from time to time provide interactive services on our site, including, without limitation, live chat and bulletin boards.

Where we do provide any interactive service, we’ll provide clear information to you about the kind of service offered.

We do our best to assess any possible risks for users from third parties when they use any interactive service provided on our site. We’re not under any obligation to oversee, monitor or moderate any interactive service we provide on our site, and we expressly exclude our liability for any loss or damage arising from the use of any interactive service by a user in contravention of our content standards (see below), whether the service is moderated or not.

Content standards

These content standards apply to any and all material which you contribute to our site (“contributions”), and to any interactive services associated with it.

We both agree that you’ll comply with the spirit and the letter of the following standards. These standards apply to the whole or any part of any content contribution you make.

So, this means that your contributions must:

• be accurate (where they state facts)
• be genuinely held (where they state opinions)
• comply with applicable law in the UK and in any country from which they are posted.

It also means that your contributions must not:

• contain any material which is defamatory of any person
• contain any material which is obscene, offensive, hateful or inflammatory
• promote sexually explicit material
• promote violence
• promote discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age
• infringe any copyright, database right or trade mark of any other person
• be likely to deceive any person
• be made in breach of any legal duty owed to a third party, such as a contractual duty or a duty of confidence
• promote any illegal activity
• be threatening, abuse or invade another’s privacy, or cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety
• be likely to harass, upset, embarrass, alarm or annoy any other person
• be used to impersonate any person, or to misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person
• give the impression that they emanate from us, if this is not the case.
• advocate, promote or assist any unlawful act such as (by way of example only) copyright infringement or computer misuse.

Suspension and termination

Where we detect a suspected breach of this policy by you, we’ll confirm in our discretion whether it is in fact a breach. If we conclude that you have breached the policy, we have the right to take whatever remedial or protective action that we reasonably consider to be appropriate.

Failure to comply with this acceptable use policy constitutes a material breach of our website terms of use which contains our consent to your lawful use our site. This breach may result in us taking all or any of the following actions:

• immediate, temporary or permanent withdrawal of your right to use our site
• immediate, temporary or permanent removal of any posting or material uploaded by you to our site
• issue of a warning to you
• Legal proceedings against you for reimbursement of all costs on an indemnity basis (including, but not limited to, reasonable administrative and legal costs) resulting from the breach
• further legal action against you
• disclosure of such information to law enforcement authorities as we reasonably feel is necessary

If we believe that we have to do any of the above, we exclude liability for any of those actions taken in response to breaches of this acceptable use policy. The responses described in this policy are not limited, and we may take any other action we reasonably deem appropriate.

Changes to the acceptable use policy

We may revise this acceptable use policy at any time by amending this page. Ideally, you should check this page from time to time as these changes will also be binding on you - although again, none of these changes should be worrying to you if you’re acting lawfully.

You should read this policy in conjunction with the other terms and policies referred to in it.