![\"Gary](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SEI_267319055-7475-e1783025772695.jpg\")
\n\t\tSouthport taxi driver Gary Poland did not immediately call 999 despite seeing screaming children at the scene of the stabbing (Picture: Facebook)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tSouthport taxi driver Gary Poland did not immediately call 999 despite seeing screaming children at the scene of the stabbing (Picture: Facebook)<\/p>\n
The taxi driver who gave a lift to teen killer Axel Rudakubana before he attacked children with a kitchen knife has had his licence stripped. <\/p>\n
Gary Poland waited for almost an hour after unwittingly driving Rudakubana to the Hart Space studio on July 29, 2024, where the 17-year-old stabbed 13 people at the Taylor Swift theme party. <\/p>\n
Footage captured on his dashboard camera was played at a public inquiry into the massacre, showing him drive away while screaming children ran for their lives from the building. <\/p>\n
Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, were killed in the attack, and eight other children and two adults were seriously hurt. <\/p>\n
\t\t![\"Elsie](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/poland\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SEC_303760760-2c7d.jpg\")
\n\t\tElsie Dot Stancombe (from left), Bebe King and Alice da Silva Aguiar were killed in the Southport attack in July 2024 (Picture: PA)<\/p>\n
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Start your day informed with Metro’s News Updates<\/a> newsletter or get Breaking News<\/a> alerts the moment it happens. <\/p>\n The inquiry found that the murders of the three girls \u2018could and should have been prevented\u2019 if multiple agencies had taken steps to stop the killer, who was known to the mental health<\/a>, social care and counter-extremism bodies before the attack. <\/p>\n Rudakubana had left the taxi without paying after calling a lift under a fake name. <\/p>\n The driver had followed the teenager and told him he needed to pay, but Rudakubana ignored him. <\/p>\n It heard how private hire driver Poland took away from the scene despite seeing children escape the building because he heard \u2018four or five gunshots.\u2019 <\/p>\n This led him to believe there had been a shooting, he told the inquiry via a video link. <\/p>\n Poland told the hearing he saw six and seven-year-old children \u2018stampede for their lives\u2019 within 30 seconds of the beginning of the attack. <\/p>\n But he drove off, called a friend and collected another passenger before speaking with his wife. He eventually called 999 when arriving home. <\/p>\n He told the inquiry he had gone into \u2018panic mode\u2019 thinking there was a shooting. <\/p>\n He told in a statement: \u2018I regret not helping the children, their screams were harrowing and I can still hear them when I think back to that day.\u2019<\/p>\n Sefton Council\u2019s taxi licence conditions state: \u2018If, of course, you feel a child or young person is in serious danger of immediate harm, you should call the emergency police telephone number, 999.\u2019 <\/p>\n The council revoked Poland\u2019s licence because he \u2018did not meet the appropriate standards.\u2019 <\/p>\n All taxi licensing hearings are held in private, and the council said the exact reason for the revocation is not made public. <\/p>\n Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood<\/a> said today that the government<\/a> accepts the recommendations made by the first phase of the inquiry in full. <\/p>\n Inquiry chairman Sir Adrian Fulford said there was a \u2018fundamental failure\u2019 by any organisation, or multi-agency arrangement, to take ownership of the risk Rudakubana posed in the years leading up to his attack.<\/p>\n \u2018These 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,\u2019 the Home Secretary said. <\/p>\n Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/p>\n For more stories like this, check our news page<\/a>.<\/p>\n