London Marathon Events, the organisers behind the annual RideLondon cycling event, says it is “seeking further information as a matter of priority” after it was revealed this week that the company’s chair, Terence Duddy, was convicted of careless driving for seriously injuring a cyclist.
Duddy, who earlier this month was also appointed as chair of BBC Children in Need, a post from which he has since resigned, was handed an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for a year and a half, and banned from driving for 18 months following the incident, which left a woman in her 50s with serious injuries.
The 69-year-old was driving his BMW SUV in the village of Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire, in June when he cut across the opposite lane and into the path of the oncoming cyclist, striking her and second her flying over her handlebars.
road.cc approached Thames Valley Police for an update on the injured cyclist’s condition, but were told by the force that the rider, who is “recovering”, did not wish to provide any further details.
Sharing video footage of the collision, Thames Valley Police also confirmed that Duddy was ordered by a judge to undertake 200 hours of unpaid work and pay costs totalling £272.
The conviction prompted Duddy to resign from his new role as chair of BBC Children in Need. His appointment as the charity’s chair was only confirmed last month, by which time Duddy would have already received his court date, raising questions as to the scrutiny that went into his appointment.
Duddy, a former boss of Argos and Homebase’s parent company, is credited with ‘inventing’ click and collect catalogue ordering. He stepped down as Chief Executive in 2013 amid growing scrutiny of his £1.6 million salary.
Since then, he has chaired the board of welfare charity Catch 22 and London Marathon Events, the latter being the organiser of the RideLondon sportive that last took place in 2024.
Duddy was appointed to London Marathan Events’ board of directors in December 2020, when he was also appointed as a trustee and director of the London Marathon Foundation, the company’s charitable trust.
Terry Duddy (credit: BBC Children in Need)
On Wednesday, we reported that Duddy’s resignation from his role at Children in Need was confirmed to staff that morning, just days after this year’s telethon fundraising appeal raised £45.5 million. He had been due to join the Board of Trustees on Friday and would have led the process for appointing a new chief executive of the charity.
Children in Need told road.cc that it did not know about Duddy’s legal troubles prior to his appointment.
The charity said: “On Tuesday 18 November, our new Chair Terry Duddy informed us that he had been convicted last week of causing serious injury through careless driving.
“In light of this he offered his resignation, which the board accepted, agreeing he could not continue in this role. James Fairclough, a Trustee since 2021, has been formally appointed Chair with immediate effect. We remain focused on helping children and young people thrive.
“We were not aware of the court case before he was appointed.”
Terry Duddy convicted of careless drivng after hitting female cyclist while cutting corner (credit: Thames Valley Police)
When approached by road.cc, London Marathon Events – which also organises the London and Brighton marathons and the London T100 Triathlon – admitted on Thursday that it was not fully aware of the details surrounding Duddy’s court case.
“We are seeking further information as a matter of priority,” a London Marathon Events spokesperson told road.cc.
That response was echoed by Catch 22, who also said this week that they are “assessing what this means for his role as a matter of urgency”.
RideLondon, the annual cycling festival held in the capital and around Essex to celebrate the legacy of the 2012 Olympics, was last held in 2024, after London Marathon Events cancelled the 2025 event, claiming that a “hiatus” would allow them to return with “new concept” to involve “more riders of all ages and abilities”.
The 2024 edition of RideLondon, the event’s tenth, included the three-day Women’s UCI World Tour RideLondon Classique race (which was also cancelled for 2025), mass participation rides over 100 miles, 60 miles, and 30 miles incorporating a loop of Essex, and FreeCycle, a seven-mile traffic-free route through central London for cyclists of all abilities.
However, putting a halt to the festivities for 2025, and announcing that all entrants who had registered early for next year’s event will receive a full refund, the event’s organisers announced in September 2024 that change was needed for the “world’s greatest festival of cycling” in the future.
RideLondon 2024 (credit: Ben Queenborough for London Marathon Events)
“We feel the time is right to take a pause this year and bring all stakeholders together to work on a new concept for the world’s greatest festival of cycling,” Hugh Brasher, the CEO of London Marathon Events, said at the time.
“We have now staged 10 hugely successful editions of the event which has inspired more than 300,000 people to get back on a bike or cycle more and also raised more than £85 million for charity.
“No event in 2025 means that we can focus on a full strategic review of RideLondon, which was first held as a London 2012 Olympic legacy event back in 2013, and design a new concept which will engage more riders of all ages and abilities and inspire hundreds of thousands more people to cycle more often.”