The newly appointed chair of BBC Children in Need has resigned after being given a suspended sentence for hitting a cyclist whilst turning at a junction.
The incident occured in June in the village of Chalfont St Giles in Buckinghamshire in June. Terrence Duddy, 69, was driving a BMW SUV and cut across the oncoming lane and into a cyclist who had right of way. The cyclist, in her fifties, was seriously injured.
Sharing video footage of the collision, Thames Valley Police said: “Last Thursday, Mr Duddy, of Nightingales Lane, Chalfont St Giles, received an 8-month custodial sentence that is suspended for 18 months, 200 hours of unpaid work to be completed, costs totalling £272 and an 18-month driving disqualification.”
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 chaired the board of welfare charity Catch 22 and London Marathon Events. He was described as bringing “a wealth of governance and leadership experience across both the charity and commercial sectors, along with a strong commitment to supporting children and young people” at the time of his announcement.
His appointment as chair of BBC Children in Need was announced 11 days ago by which time Duddy would have already received his court date, raising questions as to the scrutiny that went into the charity’s appointment. He was due to join the Board of Trustees on Friday and would have led the process for appointing a new chief executive of the charity.
Terry Duddy (Children in need) (credit: BBC Children in Need)
His resignation was confirmed to staff this morning, just days after this year’s telethon fundraising appeal which raised £45.5 million. The charity’s outgoing chief executive Simon Antrobus said in a statement: “I recognise this will be a surprise but I want to reassure you all that we remain in a strong and stable position, and we remain focused on helping children and young people thrive.”
Catch 22 told Civil Society they were “assessing what this means for his role as a matter of urgency”.
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BBC 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.”