Gary Poland dropped of the Southport killer before seeing children flee the dance studio but waited 50 minutes to call police
Axel Rudakubana taxi driver Gary Poland(Image: Facebook)
The taxi driver who dropped off the Southport attacker before driving away as children fled the scene had his taxi licence revoked over his “fitness to hold it”. Axel Rudakubana was dropped off by a private hire vehicle, driven by Gary Poland, on the morning of July 29, 2024, before he entered the Hart Space on Hart Street in Southport.
Here, the then-17-year-old, unleashed a violent attack on the Taylor Swift-themed workshop, killing Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and injuring eight children and two adults. The Southport Inquiry earlier this year found the murders “could and should have been prevented”, if agencies had taken steps to stop the attacker.
The inquiry, which sat at Liverpool Town Hall for two months during the autumn, heard Rudakubana had contact with a litany of public services including the police, counter terrorism, social care, youth justice and the NHS in the days, months and years before the attack.
During the inquiry, it was heard how Gary Poland drove away from the scene of that attack after hearing screams and seeing children fleeing the building because he heard “four or five gunshots”.
The driver recalled seeing six and seven-year-old children “stampede for their lives” out of the building within 30 seconds of Axel Rudakubana’s attack. But following the incident, Mr Poland called his friend twice and picked up an extra fare before he eventually went home and called the police to provide details about what he knew about the teenage killer.
Court artist drawing by Elizabeth Cook of taxi driver Gary Poland(Image: Elizabeth Cook/PA Wire)
In his own evidence Mr Poland confirmed he was an “experienced private hire taxi driver” and had been doing it for 27 years at the time of the attack. He told the inquiry it took him three years to qualify as a taxi driver, which included nights at college.
A Sefton Council spokeserson said: “Mr Poland no longer holds a taxi driver licence following a review into his fitness to hold it by the local authority. The council found he did not meet the appropriate standards.”
The ECHO understands Mr Poland attempted to appeal the decision but was unsuccessful.
It comes after the inquiry heard there would be an investigation into Mr Poland over his actions on the day of the attack.
Sefton Council’s head of taxi licences Mark Toohey told the inquiry: “We have a licensing panel and a driver such as Mr Poland would be invited to make representations and supply any information that he thought was relevant to support him before any decision was made.”
It comes as the government announced its response to phase one of the Southport Inquiry, with Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood stating the government needed to “right these wrongs” in relation to the 67 recommendations issued by chair of the inquiry Sir Adrian Fulford.
Axel Rudakubana(Image: PA)
One of those recommendations said: “The Department for Transport should require local authorities to ensure that all licensed taxi drivers have a clear duty promptly to report any significant criminal activity they witness while working.
“This duty should form part of mandatory training, and a failure to report such activity, subject to individual circumstances, should place the driver’s licence at risk.”
The Department for Transport (DfT) said it expects to complete the implementation of this recommendation by late 2027. Despite this, Mr Poland no longer carries a taxi licence with the local authority that covers Southport.
The phase one report found five major failings:
No agency or multi-agency structure accepted responsibility for assessing and managing the grave risk posed by Rudakubana.Essential information was repeatedly lost, diluted or poorly managed across agencies.Rudakubana’s conduct was wrongly attributed to his autism spectrum disorder diagnosis, leading to inaction and a failure to address his dangerous behaviour.His online behaviour, which showed clear indication of his obsession with violence, was never properly examined.Rudakubana’s parents did not provide boundaries, permitting knives and weapons to be delivered to their home and a failure to report crucial information about their son’s descent into violent obsession in the days leading up to the attack.
Chair Sir Adrian Fulford (Image: Peter Byrne/PA Wire)
Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood said: “The Southport Inquiry identified fundamental failings, across many of our public services, in the years leading up to July 2024. These devastating failures led to the senseless killing of three young girls and violent attacks on others.
“My thoughts today are first and foremost with the families and friends of Bebe, Elsie and Alice and all the victims of that awful day. We owe it to them to right these wrongs.
“For that reason, we have accepted Sir Adrian’s recommendations for central government in full. My department will now drive this work across government, with the urgency it deserves.
“We will do whatever is needed to protect the public.”
The second phase of the inquiry is due to open next week in a one day hearing before it continues in September this year in London.