London Marathon Events, the company behind the annual RideLondon cycling festival, has confirmed that the company’s chair, Terence Duddy, has resigned from its board, as well as its charitable foundation, following his conviction for careless driving, in relation to a collision which left a female cyclist seriously injured.

Duddy, who last 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 sending her flying over her handlebars.

road.cc approached Thames Valley Police last week 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.

As well as the currently paused RideLondon cycling festival, which between 2013 and 2024 featured sportives, family rides, and elite racing around the streets of the capital and the surrounding countryside, London Marathon Events also organises, as the name suggests, the London and Brighton marathons and the London T100 Triathlon.

Terry Duddy
Terry Duddy (Image Credit: BBC Children in Need)

Last 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.

And now, it has been confirmed that Duddy has also stepped down from his roles at London Marathon Events and Catch 22, after both organisations confirmed last week that they were investigating the matter “as a matter of priority”.

“The trustees of the London Marathon Foundation have accepted the resignation of Terry Duddy from the boards of the Foundation and London Marathon Events,” London Marathon Events said in a statement issued on Monday.

“We extend our sincere thanks to Terry for his commitment and contributions over the past five years.”

According to an update on Companies House, Catch 22, a not-for-profit ‘social business’, has also “terminated” Duddy’s position on its board of directors.

 > RideLondon “hiatus” for 2025 due to opening of “car use-encouraging” tunnel, suggests FOI request, after London’s walking and cycling commissioner objected to closure of new tunnel for cycling event as “absolute no”

Duddy’s resignation following his careless driving conviction comes amid a wall of silence surrounding the future of LME’s RideLondon event, the annual cycling festival held in the capital and around Essex to celebrate the legacy of the 2012 Olympics.

RideLondon 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
RideLondon 2024 (Image 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.”