Take to the streets to watch this year's London to Brighton bike ride and you might just catch a glimpse of Charlton Heston.

A Selsdon cyclist will be donning a Ben Hur outfit and riding a custom-made chariot 54 miles to raise money for the hospice that treated his dying father.

Phil Letts, 56, of Forestdale, will be joined friend Dean Gillam, 30, in the fundraising feat for St Christopher's Hospice on Sunday.

Jack Letts spent his last days at the hospice before dying of cancer seven years ago at the age of 71.

His son spent two months building the chariot out of a rickshaw and will have a crowd of friends and family cheering him over the finish line following the ride, which he expects to take eight or nine hours.

Mr Letts, who runs L&M Body Repairs in Neville Road, Croydon said: "I had the rickshaw for some time and finally decided to do something with it. It is hard to ride, which we discovered the other day after taking it on a five-mile trek.

"It is going to be an eventful day. It will be a lot of fun. We have got a big contingent of people coming to see us finish so we have got to do it."

Mr Letts hopes to raise more than £500 for the hospice.

He said: "What they did for him was unbelievable and I'll never forget it. It was a dignified death."