Terms & Conditions

London Business Hub Terms & Conditions

The London Business Hub website is maintained for your personal use and viewing. Access and use by you of this site constitutes acceptance by you of these Terms and Conditions that take effect from the date of first use.

The London Business Hub website is for London’s Small and Medium Size (SME) business community, business support providers and anyone else with an interest in the business support landscape in London. Its purpose is to allow users to search for support, events and discuss issues affecting London’s SMEs. Please note that discussions taking place within the London Business Hub website will be monitored and analysed for research purposes by the London Local Enterprise Partnership or organisations acting on behalf of the London LEP on a confidential basis.

The following website terms and conditions have been written to help you understand what being a user (and where applicable, member) of the London Business Hub website means and ensure you get the best possible experience.

These terms and conditions may be changed at any time without notice, so please check them every now and then. If you continue to use the website we’ll assume you agree with the new terms and conditions.

If you have any questions about anything included in these terms and conditions, or would like us to explain anything in further detail, please contact us (businesshub@london.gov.uk) and we’ll do our best to answer your questions.

Using our website:

We try hard to make sure that the London Business Hub website is working correctly and that the information we publish is accurate. This is not always achievable so the following disclaimer applies.

Disclaimer:

The website is provided “as is” without any representation or endorsement made and without warranty of any kind whether express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of satisfactory quality, fitness for a particular purpose, compatibility, non-infringement, accuracy and security. We do not guarantee or represent that the content and/or facilities available or accessible via these websites will always be accurate, complete or current or that access to the website will be uninterrupted.

To the extent permitted by law we expressly disclaim all liability for any direct, indirect or consequential loss or damage occasioned from the use or inability to use this website, whether directly or indirectly resulting from inaccuracies, defects, viruses, errors – whether typographical or otherwise, omissions, out of date information or otherwise.

Accessing this website and the downloading of material from it is done entirely at your own risk. You, and not the London Business Hub, will be entirely responsible for any resulting damage to software or computer systems and/or any resulting loss of data, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damage.

Links:

This website contains links to other websites over which we have no control. Such links are supplied solely for the convenience and information of users. We are not responsible for the contents or reliability of the linked websites and do not necessarily endorse the views expressed within them or the organisations or persons providing them in any way. We do not guarantee that these links will work all of the time and we have no control over the availability of the linked pages.

Providers of other websites may place text-based links to pages on the London Business Hub website without seeking prior permission. However, such links must not open the London Business Hub website pages into frames within another website. Pages from the London Business Hub website must be loaded into the user’s entire browser window. Copying of our logos or any other third party logos accessed via this website is not permitted without prior approval from the relevant copyright owner. Please contact us (businesshub @london.gov.uk) for further details on obtaining such approval.

Jurisdiction:

These terms and conditions will be governed and constructed in accordance with the laws of England. The courts of England shall have exclusive jurisdiction over disputes between a user and the London Business Hub arising out of the access or use of this website. Omission by us to exercise any right under these terms and conditions will not constitute a waiver of such right unless expressly stated by us in writing.

Copyright:

Unless expressly stated the copyright and other intellectual property rights (such as design rights, trademarks, patents etc.) in any material provided on the London Business Hub website remains our property (or as the case may be another rightful owner). London Business Hub owned material on this website including text and images, may not be printed, copied, reproduced, republished, downloaded, posted, displayed, modified, reused, broadcast or transmitted in any way, except for your own personal non-commercial use. You must gain our permission for any other type of use. Contact us (businesshub@london.gov.uk) for details.

Privacy Policy:

We respect your privacy and operate under a strict Privacy Policy. It explains, among other things, that we may collect information about you. By using this website you consent to the terms of the privacy policy.

Using our forum:

The following community guidelines have been written to help you understand what being a member of the London Growth Hub community means and ensure you get the best possible experience.

These guidelines may be changed at any time without notice, so please check them every now and then. If you continue to use the community we’ll assume you agree with the new guidelines.

Personal information:

Please remember that all the information that you post here is in the public domain. We want you to stay safe in the London Business Hub community so we strongly discourage you from posting your own or other people’s personal information. We have a Privacy Policy explaining how we handle personal information.

Remain respectful:

Language:

Most readers and participants on the London Business Hub forums will have English as their first language. Please try to post in English (Google Translate may be helpful if needed). We will try to translate (using Google Translate) things posted in other languages but cannot guarantee that we will be able to in every case.

Keep it relevant:

Most of the conversations in the London Business Hub forums relate to specific subjects. We know some conversations can be far-reaching, but content completely unrelated to the original topic may be moved to a more appropriate area or removed completely.

Swearing and abusive language:

Offensive or abusive language is unacceptable in this community. You should avoid using swear words or words that others may find offensive.

We don’t tolerate racism, sexism, homophobia, ageism or other forms of hate speech or content that could be interpreted as such. There is no place for this content in the London Business Hub community. Harassing other community members or any threats of physical violence will be taken very seriously and appropriate action will be taken by the moderators if this is the case.

Impersonation and imitation:

Impersonating other community members, members of the public or public officials is a form of harassment and we take this very seriously. We may remove any content, delete accounts and ban users who are found to be imitating others.

Spam content and advertising:

The London Business Hub community is an open forum for London’s SMEs, business support providers and anyone else with an interest in the business support landscape in London and should not be used for promotion or commercial solicitation to members, unless in an anecdotal and advice giving narrative to fellow community members.

Staying within the law:

Please do not post any content that has an attached risk of prosecution for you or us, such as content that is defamatory or breaks a copyright infringement. Please keep it legal.

Reporting content:

Occasionally you might find some content you don’t like or feel breaks the guidelines above. If someone posts something you feel violates our community guidelines, please let us know immediately. To report anything you disagree with, please contact us (growthhub@cobwebinfo.com) and link us to the offending post. The moderators will be happy to review it for you and take the action they deem necessary.

Think before you act:

Persistent misuse of the complaints channels is disruptive. Please sit back and have a think before you report content. If you misuse the channels then moderators may have to take action against your account.

Moderators have the final say:

The London Business Hub moderators reserve the right to delete any contribution, or take action against any user account, at any time, for any reason.

Protecting the London Growth Hub community

Our moderation policy:

London Business Hub operates a reactive moderation process within its forums; anything that you publish to the forums will appear almost straight away. We rely on you, our community members, to alert us of any content or behaviour that is inappropriate. The moderators are here to help keep the community a lively, friendly and comfortable place to spend time in. Occasionally you might find some content you don’t like or feel breaks the guidelines. Please report anything you disagree with to the moderators and they will be happy to review it for you. You can do this by emailing us (growthhub@cobwebinfo.com). We feel this is the best way to moderate the London Growth Hub forum so that it can be kept open for discussion 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Moderators will give out friendly reminders rather than warnings wherever possible. We don’t enjoy having to warn community members and will think very carefully before doing so. We seldom ban first offences unless they are particularly severe. However, if it becomes clear someone is unwilling to follow our community guidelines, they will be banned permanently. We issue permanent bans only as a last resort to protect the London Business Hub community.

The event submission function on the London Business Hub website does however go through a verification process conducted by our moderators before anything is published. We aim to have events submitted live in 2 working days. If your event does not appear within a week of submitting please email us (growthhub@cobwebinfo.com). The moderators will source further information for your event listing based on the information you provide in the integrated event submission form. If the moderators are of the opinion that your event should not be listed on the London Business Hub, due to it not being relevant to the website’s users or is deemed suspicious or inappropriate, the event will not be published. You will not receive a notification. You can follow up with a submission as mentioned above. If you are told your event submission was not accepted you have the right to appeal the decision. The London Business Hub moderators final decision is however final.

Our three strike policy:

The London Business Hub community operates a three strike policy for anyone found to be breaking the community guidelines or site terms and conditions. The three strike policy is:

First Warning: A reminder of conduct
Second Warning: A warning that further infringements will result in a ban
Third Warning: Exclusion from the community

You and your account:

To use the London Business Hub forum and profile elements of the website you need to register and set up an account. Please only use one account, as we may remove any accounts that appear to be duplicated or suspicious. You will be issued with an automated password upon registration which you should change when you first login. If you can’t remember your password you can request a new one.Your username is how other members of the community will identify you. To avoid confusion please don’t use terms that misrepresent yourself or other community members. For your safety online, we advise that you don’t include your email or website address, telephone or fax number in your username. We also request that you do not use any terms that others may find offensive. You can choose to add a photo to your profile. This photo will be seen by other members of the community when you use the forums. We request that you do not use any images that others may find offensive.