Southport taxi driver who ‘waited 50 minutes’ to call 999 loses licence
A taxi driver who waited 50 minutes before calling 999 after leaving the scene of a stabbing attack in Southport has had his license revoked.
Gary Poland took Axel Rudakubana to the scene on July 29, 2024, where the teenager killed seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe, six-year-old Bebe King and nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar, and attempted to kill 10 more people.
A Sefton Council spokesman said: “Following an investigation by the local authority, this person no longer has a taxi driver’s licence.
“It was determined that this individual did not meet the appropriate standards set out in Sefton Council’s taxi licensing policy.”
Mr Poland told the Southport Inquiry in September 2025 that he drove away despite seeing screaming children running “for their lives” because he thought he heard gunshots.
Mr Poland, then a One Call Taxis driver, did not call emergency services until 50 minutes after he heard screams coming from the Hart Space studio, bought another ticket and returned home first.
Mr Poland also told the inquest at Liverpool Town Hall that Rudakubana threatened to call the police after she ignored his demands to pay her fee, but thought he was going to get money when he entered the building where a Taylor Swift-themed dance lesson was taking place.
Inquiry barrister Nicholas Moss KC asked the witness: “Do you accept that the children fled with your car as you drove away and that you could be seen looking at the rear view camera?”
“That’s true,” Mr. Poland said, adding: “I didn’t know anyone was injured. I didn’t see anyone injured.”
Mr. Poland said in a statement that he later wished he had called the police sooner.
“I regret not helping the children. Their screams were heartbreaking and I can still hear them when I think of that day.”
Statements in Sefton Council’s taxi licensing handbook include a call for drivers to call 999 if they feel a child or young person is in serious danger of direct harm.
