Taxi Driver Online

Taxi driver who drove Southport suspect before dance class attack left 'traumatised'

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/c ... t-33419112

The cab driver who dropped Axel Rudakubana off in Southport before the stabbing spree that killed three young girls is "traumatised" by what happened.

Gary Poland was the last person to see Rudakubana, 18, who has been accused of knifing Bebe King, six, Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, to death while they attended a Taylor Swift dance class in the Merseyside town.

Rudakubana was arrested on July, 29, the same day the attacks took place, and has since been charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder. The teenager is next due to appear in court on October 25 ahead of a trial, the provisional date of which has been set as January 25, 2025.

Mr Poland's wife says he is "devastated" by the attack that has shaken his community and "feels responsible".

Speaking to The Sun, Lynn said her husband, like the rest of the community, has been unable to think about little else in the days since the stabbing last week. She added: “He’s unable to talk about it at the moment. He feels terrible. All he’s thinking about is what happened to those children.”

An anonymous neighbour told The Sun the cabbie "shouldn't feel guilty". She added that he would have personally stepped in to halt the attacks, saying: "He would have the first to tackle the attacker or alert the police.”

Mr Poland had recently purchased a new car at the time of the attack, which has now been taken by police investigators as they look for evidence.

The community has rallied around the driver, with a GoFundMe page set up online aiming to raise the money to buy him a new vehicle. The page, set up by Mr Poland's friend Liam Rice, has already smashed its £2,000 target, having received £2,750 in donations since it went live. Mr Rice set up the page as the devastated cabbie faces a potentially year-long wait before police return his car, as well as hefty impound fees.

He wrote: "Gary, like all of us, is very shocked and upset by what happened. Because he dropped that person off, the police have seized his vehicle for forensics. They cannot give him a release date for the vehicle, but from experience, this process can take anywhere from three weeks to six months or even a year. Once the car is released, he will have to pay the impound fees to retrieve it.

"Gary only recently bought the car, so he has car payments to make, along with all the usual bills. He is quite traumatised by what happened and, like everyone involved that day, he thinks he could have done more. However, no one could have known what was going to happen, so he couldn't have done anything differently.

"We don't know how long his car will be impounded or how long he will be out of work, so £2,000 is just an estimate of how much he will need. All help is greatly appreciated."

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IDFIMH

Not convinced that's the case.

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IDFIMH

i think a new car will cost a lot more than £2000 but suspect this is a journo getting the story twisted round their neck

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

The fund is now up to £4,600, so I suspect the article has helped.

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IDFIMH

And after all the insistance by the govenment and police that he wasn't an islamic terrorist and the reaction was just right wing hooliganism

Southport murders accused facing terror charge

it turns out he was an AL -Quaeda supporter manufacturing Bio weapons !


So the terrorism claims on the internet were NOT a hoax and could have been far worse if he had been carrying Ricin

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Taxi driver who dropped off Southport attacker ‘waited 50 minutes’ to call 999

The taxi driver who drove the Southport attacker to the scene of his crime would have been "morally" expected to make a call to emergency services - earlier than the 50 minutes he waited, a senior police officer has said.

Driver Gary Poland, who picked up AR - as the inquiry is choosing to call him - from his home in Banks, Lancashire, waited almost an hour to call 999 despite hearing children scream and seeing them flee the building in his rearview mirror as he drove away.

Giving evidence to the Southport Inquiry, at Liverpool Town Hall, Detective Chief Inspector Jason Pye, the senior investigating officer, was asked whether he would have expected a member of the public, acting responsibly, to have called 999 as soon as they got to a place of safety.

Responding to counsel to the public inquiry Nicholas Moss KC, Mr Pye said: “Accepting that he had no duty of care, I would like to think, morally, that a call would be made.” He added: “There was enough evidence that we had that he knew what was happening, yes you would have expected a phone call to come in.”

The inquiry aims to examine AR's dealings with relevant agencies before he carried out his violent attack on 29 July 2024. The attacker killed Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and attempted to murder 10 others after he entered the Taylor Swift dance class.

The hearing was told the teenager had left his home at 11.10am that day and called One Call Taxis a few minutes later, using an automated system which recognised his name as Simon. Mr Pye said the then 17-year-old's Nokia phone, recovered from the scene of the attack, had the address of the studio stored with a number which correlated to a local taxi firm, save for one digit. He also had One Call Taxis saved in the “basic” phone, as well as the postcode for the event venue, which had been advertised on Instagram.

He was picked up by the taxi just after 11.30am and travelled for 14 minutes to Hart Street where he left the vehicle and walked away as Mr Poland asked how he was paying. When the attacker did not pay despite repeated requests, Mr Poland said “you pay now or the police are on the f****** way, you knob”, the inquiry heard. There was no audible response from the teenager, who entered the Hart Space building and went upstairs to the studio where 26 children were taking part in the holiday club.

The inquiry was told sounds of distress could be heard at 11.46am, just 29 seconds after the teen entered the building. Mr Moss asked Mr Pye: “That is testament to the speed of this horrifying incident?” Mr Pye replied: “Absolutely.”

The inquiry heard the first child to escape the building, referred to as C3, came out as Mr Poland was beginning to drive away and had to change her direction because of his car as she ran out. Mr Pye confirmed rear dashcam footage from the taxi showed children exiting the building behind the car and screaming could be heard. Dashcam footage also showed Mr Poland looking in his rear view mirror, he said.

The inquiry heard at 12.36pm Mr Poland rang 999 and said: “I am just shook up. I can't believe it. My heart's going like I don't know what. I’ve picked him up, that lad that’s done something." He told the operator he was in “shock” and said Rudakubana had not said anything during the drive but seemed “very, very odd”.

He added: “I was just about to drive off, then I heard screaming, proper screaming. "I thought 'what's that?' and there were young people running down the steps, just running down."

The inquiry into the Southport stabbings is expected to last until November. The inquiry was told that 27 seconds after Mr Poland heard screams, a 999 call was made by dance teacher Leanne Lucas, who had run out of the dance class with stab injuries.

Mr Pye was asked whether the delay in Mr Poland calling emergency services made any difference to the response. He said: “That was a consideration I had to give as the senior investigator and I don’t believe it did.”

Mr Poland is expected to give evidence to the inquiry later this week.

https://www.itv.com/news/granada/2025-0 ... o-call-999

50 minutes seems a long time but it might be explained in his own evidence.

50 minutes is an absolute lifetime. Maybe he was in shock.

Some people might ask why he didn't run in when he heard screaming.

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IDFIMH

Pretty sure he's had every could/would/should-have thought since it happened.

The problem he has is that not many people, if any, will have sympathy for his situation.

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IDFIMH

I would hope that I would not have done what this lad did; in fact, I'm not even sure it would have crossed my mind to do anything other than grab something heavy and rush in to help. Shouting my mouth off for others to follow.

However, I was not in his shoes, and given what he says at the end, I'm really glad about that.

Taxi driver 'regrets' not helping Southport victims

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpd96g46vzwo

The taxi driver who dropped off the Southport killer at the dance class where he murdered three children has told a public inquiry he regretted not calling police sooner.

Gary Poland, who did not phone police until 50 minutes after the attack, told the Southport Inquiry he drove away in a panic.

The inquiry at Liverpool Town Hall was told he had believed loud bangs he had heard moments after dropping off Axel Rudakubana were "gunshots".

Via video-link Mr Poland, who heard screaming and whose vehicle dashcam showed girls running from the venue, said: "I should have called the police earlier. In hindsight I wish I had done and it's something I think about every day."

Alice Aguiar, nine, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Bebe King, six, were killed in the attack, and eight other girls and two adults were also injured.

The inquiry heard that after the attacker refused to pay for the taxi, Mr Poland saw him go into the Hart Space and then heard the loud bangs.

"It was terrifying," he said.

"You were fearful and in a state of shock. I just thought someone was shooting."

He said he then went into "panic mode."

Mr Poland also heard the victims screaming.

He said: "I did what I did because of fear, shock and panic. These are human emotions which I could not control."

Nicholas Moss KC, counsel to the inquiry, said in his statement to police Mr Poland described seeing "a massed huddle of children stumble and run in a panicked hurry".

The statement described the girls "screaming... it was like a stampede for their lives".

Mr Moss also said dashcam footage from Mr Poland's taxi shows the girls running alongside his vehicle, and showed him looking in the rear view mirror.

In his statement to the inquiry, Mr Poland said he did not know the children had been injured.

Mr Moss asked Mr Poland if he accepted that he should have stopped on Hart Street as soon as he was out of harm's way, and called the police.

Mr Poland replied: "Yeah."

Mr Moss also said a transcript of the phone call he made to his friend noted him talking about his belief that the attacker had a gun, but did not reflect him expressing any concern for the girls.

Mr Moss asked him if it was fair or unfair that the purpose of the call was "guess what just happened to me".

Mr Poland replied: "Unfair."

Earlier Mr Poland had said: "I can't sleep at night. I shut my eyes, I see [the attacker's] face. He is just there all the time in my head."

The inquiry continues.

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IDFIMH

Haven't really been following this too closely, and impossible to know what anyone would have done in his shoes. But I smell BS about a lot of this stuff

Especially the bit about saying he would have disarmed him if he'd known it was 'only' a knife

And what were the 'gunshots'?


Southport taxi driver 'accidentally' accepted new passenger after leaving attack scene

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/li ... d-32551254

Gary Poland said he heard "four to five gunshots" but would have disarmed the Southport killer if he knew he only had a knife

Axel Rudakubana's taxi driver picked up a new passenger after seeing "screaming children" and remarked a responding police car was "in a rush". One Call Taxis' driver Gary Poland told the ongoing Southport Inquiry that he left the scene of the teenage killer's attack, driving past fleeing children who had escaped the Hart Space, because he heard "four to five gunshots".

But the inquiry heard instead of driving to a place of safety and immediately calling 999, Mr Poland called his best friend Julian Medlock, who co-owned the garage next door. And, after parking on a street three minutes away from the scene of the attack, Mr Poland said he "accidentally" accepted a new passenger and carried out a 15-minute job.

The proceedings heard from Nicholas Moss KC, senior counsel to the inquiry, who said dashcam footage showed part of the conversation between Mr Poland and his female passenger. The inquiry heard Mr Poland passed a police car with its blue lights and sirens on, with his passenger remarking: "I wonder what that was," to which the driver responded: "He is in a rush, isn't he?"

Rudakubana, then aged 17, murdered Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, Bebe King, six, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, and attempted to murder 10 others in the attack on July 29 last year.

Giving his evidence via video link to Liverpool Town Hall on Thursday, experienced driver Mr Poland said he had collected the killer from his home at 10 Old School Close in Banks, with Rudakubana booking under the false name "Simon", before driving him to Hart Street in Southport, because he thought the teenager was collecting his car from a local garage.

The inquiry heard when Rudakubana left the taxi and walked away, Mr Poland followed him and said "you pay now or the police are on their f***ing way you k***". When asked by Mr Moss if he would have still confronted Rudakubana in the same way if he knew he had a knife, Mr Poland said: "If I thought he had a knife, I probably would have got out and disarmed him…it is only a knife."

The inquiry heard Mr Poland recalled seeing six and seven-year-old children "stampede for their lives". He drove away from the scene, even though children were running close to his vehicle, telling the inquiry: "I'm not going to confront anybody with a gun, I don’t think anybody would."

The inquiry heard while driving from the scene Mr Poland called his friend, Julian Medlock, who co-owned Masters Vehicle Repair garage next to the Hart Space, and told him "I think he shot some people". He called Mr Medlock for a second time while waiting for his female passenger to go into a shop, this time learning the killer had "stabbed about 15 kids".

Mr Poland told the inquiry he "felt lucky" and admitted it "does sound pretty bad" that he didn't ask about the children's welfare. When asked why he hadn't called 999, Mr Poland said "I knew the police were on their way" and claimed to hear police cars going to the scene.

But Mr Moss said that was "inaccurate" because it took the police around 10 minutes to get to the scene after he had witnessed the screaming children leaving the building.

Mr Moss asked: "Should we understand that you accept that what ought to have been done by you at this stage was you should have stopped on Hart Street as soon as you were out of harm’s way and called the police?" The driver paused briefly before he said "yeah".

After finishing his conversation with the female passenger, which also included remarks about how nice a day it was, Mr Poland phoned One Call Taxis to report the incident and confirm the address he picked Rudakubana up from. He told the call handler "I thought f***ing hell, could have been me that" and received the response: "I tell you what, it's the best £10 you have never had."

Mr Poland then drove home, spoke to his wife and called 999 - around 50 minutes after he had dropped off Rudakubana. The inquiry heard on Wednesday that the first information Merseyside Police had about the killer's identity came from Mr Poland.

After Mr Poland disclosed the pick-up address, police found a log which contained Rudakubana's name and date of birth, as well as a warning for knives. The inquiry heard Mr Poland's delay in phoning 999 did not affect the response time from the emergency services because injured dance teacher Ms Lucas had already phoned 999.

In his statement to the inquiry, Mr Poland said: "I regret not helping the children, their screams were harrowing and I can still hear them when I think back to that day. I cannot imagine what the victims and the families of the victims have been through and they have my deepest sympathy for what happened that day."

Mr Moss asked Mr Poland if it would have been the responsible and morally right thing to call 999 much earlier. He replied "oh yes, certainly".

Rudakubana was jailed for life with a minimum term of 52 years in January at Liverpool Crown Court, after admitting the "sadistic" murders and attempted murders.

Sir Adrian Fulford, chairman of the inquiry, previously said: "What occurred on that day has made it critically necessary, moreover, to identify all the changes that need to be implemented in order to ensure, as best as our society is able, that there is no repetition."

The first phase of the inquiry, which is expected to run until November, continues.