Southport Killer’s Taxi Driver ‘Went Into Panic Mode’ And Sped Away From Massacre… Before Taking Another Fare And Calling 999 An Hour Later

The taxi driver who drove the Southport killer to the Taylor Swift dance class where he murdered three young girls and injured 10 others admitted he ‘went into panic mode’ and sped away because he thought a gunman was on the rampage.

Gary Poland, 56, appeared via video link today at the public inquiry into the murders of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven.

Gary said he thought he heard four or five loud bangs after dropping off Axel Rudakubana, 18, and assumed he had a gun and was shooting people.

So what did Gary do? Well, first he sped away from the scene in panic. Fair enough. Then… he called his best mate, took another fare and called 999 about 50 minutes later. Of course by that point, he may as well have called Crimestoppers.

In a statement to police around six hours after the attack, Gary described the screaming as ‘the most awful sound’ and the girls who fled as running ‘like a stampede for their lives.’

He said that, in hindsight, he wished he had stopped to help the girls but claimed he was ‘in complete mortal terror and shock.’

Gary said: ‘I did what I did through fear, shock and panic. These are human emotions which I couldn’t control. I regret not helping the children, their screams were harrowing.

‘I cannot imagine what the victims and their families have been through and they have my deepest sympathies. There is not a day passes that I do not think about that day and the what ifs. What if I had called the police? What if I had got out of the car? What if I had apprehended him for not paying the fare?

‘I accept I could have done more, but I believe my actions as a taxi driver were fit and proper. This was a tragic event that should never have happened.’

Gary, who worked for One Call Taxis, picked up Rudakubana from his home, in Banks, a village around five miles from the dance class. He says Rudakubana, who was in a green hoodie and Covid mask, barely spoke during the journey (this was not unusual), and then got out of the car without paying. He called after him, but Rudakubana then disappeared into the building.

Gary said: ‘I was waiting for my money. I thought I would give him a minute or two, which I did, then I heard all the screams.’

Gary says he called his best friend of 40 years, Julian Medlock, who worked at the garage next door, because he was worried for his safety.

However, when the inquiry was shown a transcript of the call, Gary did not express any worry for his friend’s safety or tell him to be careful.

In the call, he told his friend: ‘He shot up stairs, and I heard these f******* shots and I just f****** shot off Jim…Lucky he didn’t f****** shoot me, weren’t it?’

Which sounds more like a ‘guess what’s happened to me?’ sort of call, rather than mortal terror or shock. But then I guess people express shock in different ways.

Explaining the contents of the call, Gary said: ‘All I can say is I was in shock. I didn’t know what was what. I drove off because I heard gun shots.’

He also claimed he accepted his next job, which came through to him via an app, ‘by accident.’

‘I should have rung One Call and said, ‘Can you take that job off me. But I took the job, I don’t know why. My head wasn’t there, I didn’t really know what I was doing.’

The inquiry heard that Gary had engaged in ‘mundane conversation’ with his female passenger, and when a police car sped past them with its emergency lights flashing and siren blaring, he remarked: ‘He’s in a rush, isn’t he?’

Gary admitted that this police car was likely rushing to the scene of the attack but explained he was so ‘in shock’ he didn’t know what he was doing.

Gary then went home and, after discussing events with his wife, Lynn, finally called police about an hour after the incident.

Fortunately, someone else had called the police by then; teacher Leanne Lucas – who organised the event – around 27 seconds after screams could be heard on Gary’s dashcam.

In fairness to Gary, the inquiry found that even he had called 999 immediately, it would likely not have resulted in police arriving at the scene any quicker.

Still, I’m not sure that will make him feel any better about it all. I’m pretty sure we’d all sh1t a brick if we were in the situation that Gary found himself in, but I’m also pretty sure I’d be on the phone calling 999 within seconds of seeing/hearing just a fraction of what he did. Freezing/driving away is one thing, but calling his mate for some banter and then taking another fare after? Why on Earth would you not call the police straight away if you think you’ve just head gun shots and screaming?

Who knows, maybe the shock was so great that his brain just shut down and went into “everything is normal” mode, and it took an hour and a conversation with his wife at home for it all to eventually click into gear. Most of us will have never been in a situation as stressful as that before, so maybe we shouldn’t judge the man too much.

For the cabbie who was engulfed in a hand sanitiser fireball after testing out a lighter than a passenger had left behind, click HERE.