Southport taxi driver's explanation in FULL despite hearing screams and driving away

The taxi driver who took Axel Rudakubana to the scene of the Southport attack said he “regretted” not stopping to help the children, who he saw fleeing the building as he drove away.

Gary Poland, a driver for One Call Taxis, did not call emergency services until 50 minutes after hearing screams at the Hart Space, having picked up another fare and returned home first.

Giving evidence to the Southport Inquiry at Liverpool Town Hall on Thursday, Mr Poland said he threatened to call the police when Rudakubana ignored his requests to pay, but thought he had gone to get money when he went into the building, where the Taylor Swift-themed dance class was being held.

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The teenager 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.

In a statement, Mr Poland said: “I consider that I should have called police earlier. In hindsight, I wish I had done and it’s something that I do think about every day, what I should have done and how this is my fault because I drove him there. I should have checked on the welfare of the children and helped.

“I thought there was a gunman shooting at people and I believed this to be the person who I had just been shouting at to pay me a fare and threatened to call the police, so I did believe that I was in danger of being a target.

“I regret not helping the children. Their screams were harrowing and I can still hear them when I think back to that day.”

He said he was in “complete shock”, which is why he did not check on the children’s welfare. In a statement, he said: “This was terrifying. I was in a state of complete mortal terror and shock.”

The inquiry heard a minute after leaving Hart Street, Mr Poland rang his friend Julian Medlock, who ran a garage near to the Hart Space. A transcript of the call, shown to the inquiry, showed Mr Poland said: “He just f****** shot everyone ain’t he?”

He told the inquiry he had picked up Rudakubana, whose name was listed as Simon, from his home in Banks, Lancashire, and after checking the address with him they travelled in silence before arriving at Hart Street at 11.44am.

He said during the journey Rudakubana did not give him cause for suspicion. When he dropped him off, he said, he did not realise he was carrying a knife. He told the inquiry: “If I’d have thought he had a knife I’d have got out and disarmed him.”

Counsel to the inquiry Nicholas Moss KC asked: “You would have got out and disarmed him, you think?” Mr Poland said: “Yeah. It’s only a knife.”