On July 29, 2024, the town of Southport was shaken by a tragedy so profound that the echoes of that day continue to haunt not only the families of the victims, but also those who, by fate or circumstance, found themselves swept up in its aftermath. At the heart of the ongoing public inquiry at Liverpool Town Hall is Gary Poland, a taxi driver for One Call Taxis, whose choices before, during, and after the attack have come under intense scrutiny.
That summer morning, Poland picked up a passenger from Banks, Lancashire. The man, later identified as Axel Rudakubana, was silent throughout the ride, his face partially obscured by a surgical mask and a green hoodie. There was nothing in his demeanor, Poland would later say, that aroused suspicion—if anything, he thought the young man looked like a carer. "I was given no reason to be suspicious during the ride," Poland told the inquiry, according to The Independent.
The taxi pulled up to Hart Street, outside the Hart Space, where a Taylor Swift-themed dance class was underway. As Poland asked, "cash or card?" for the fare, Rudakubana walked off without paying. Annoyed, Poland got out of his vehicle and pursued him, threatening to call the police if he didn’t pay. Rudakubana, unmoved, told Poland and nearby garage workers, "What are you going to do about it?" as reported by Sky News.
Poland, frustrated but undeterred, followed Rudakubana down an alleyway, repeating his threat: "You pay now, or the police are on their way, you fking knob." He watched as Rudakubana tried the door to the ground floor, found it locked, then entered the building through an unlocked upper floor door. What happened next would become the subject of public outcry and soul-searching.
As Poland turned his vehicle around to leave, his dashcam captured a chilling sight: children running alongside his taxi, their faces twisted in terror, their screams piercing the air. "I saw a mass huddle of children aged approximately six or seven. They were screaming, it was like a stampede for their lives," Poland later recounted to the inquiry. The footage showed him glancing in the rearview mirror, hesitating for a moment—but then, he drove off. Moments later, he picked up another fare, returned home, and only called the police at 12:36 pm—about 50 minutes after the attack began.
Inside the Hart Space, Rudakubana had launched a knife attack, killing Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven. Eight other girls and two adults were wounded. The attack, which lasted only minutes, left a community devastated and sparked questions about whether more could have been done to prevent the loss of life.
Poland’s delay in contacting authorities became a focal point of the inquiry. In a statement read to the panel, Poland expressed deep remorse: "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." (BBC)
He explained that in the chaos of the moment, he believed he had heard gunshots—"four or five gunshots," he told his friend Julian Medlock in a phone call made just a minute after leaving the scene. "He just f**** shot everyone ain't he?" Poland said in the recorded conversation, according to transcripts shown at the inquiry. He told the panel, "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."
Despite his apparent fear, the inquiry pressed Poland on his actions. Nicholas Moss KC, counsel to the inquiry, pointed out that dashcam footage showed children running and screaming, and asked whether Poland accepted that he should have stopped and called the police as soon as he was out of harm's way. Poland replied simply, "Yeah." When asked if he had expressed any concern for the children during his call to his friend, Poland admitted, "I don't think so. I really don't know." (BBC)
Poland’s testimony was marked by expressions of regret and guilt. "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. "I did what I did because of fear, shock and panic. These are human emotions which I could not control. I can only say that I panicked, and I fled for my own safety." He described being in a "state of complete mortal terror and shock," adding, "I can't sleep at night, I shut my eyes, I see his face, it's just there all the time in my head."
When asked by Moss if, given the chance again, he would have acted differently, Poland replied, "If I’d have thought he had a knife I’d have got out and disarmed him. It’s only a knife." Yet, he conceded that his mind "had gone" and that he was in shock for a full day after the attack. Since then, Poland said he has struggled with depression, works reduced hours, and relives the events daily. "I cannot imagine what the victims and the families of the victims have been through and they have my deepest sympathy," he told the inquiry.
The panel also heard from Detective Chief Inspector Jason Pye, who, when asked if a responsible member of the public would have been expected to call emergency services once safe, replied, "Accepting that he had no duty of care, I would like to think, morally, that a call would be made. 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 Independent)
The inquiry continues, with families, officials, and the wider community searching for answers—not just about the events of that day, but about the responsibilities of bystanders in moments of crisis. In the end, the harrowing details and honest admissions laid bare at Liverpool Town Hall serve as a sobering reminder of how quickly lives can be changed forever, and how the weight of a single decision can linger long after the chaos has faded.
