The taxi driver who drove Axel Rudakubana to the Southport dance class where he murdered three young girls has had his licence revoked, as the Home Secretary admitted “fundamental failings” by public services led to the attack.
Gary Poland, 57, told a public inquiry that after dropping off the then-17-year-old at the Taylor Swift-themed dance class on 29 July 2024, he saw children fleeing, heard loud bangs and assumed Rudakubana had a gun. Instead of stopping to help, he drove away, called a friend and took another fare before contacting police 50 minutes later.
“Gary Poland had his licence revoked after driving Rudakubana to the Southport attack; Home Secretary Mahmood admits fundamental failings.”
Sefton council revoked his licence, ruling he “did not meet the appropriate standards” in its taxi licensing policy. Lawyers for the bereaved families of Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, welcomed the decision as a “necessary step towards securing individual accountability” for those whose actions “fell below the standards the public should expect”.
Mr Poland later said: “I consider that I should have called police earlier. In hindsight, I wish I had done … 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 … so I did believe that I was in danger of being a target.”
The inquiry, chaired by Sir Adrian Fulford, concluded there had been a “fundamental failure” by any organisation to take ownership of the risk Rudakubana posed in the years leading up to the attack. On Thursday, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told MPs the government accepted the findings, vowing to “right the wrongs” and “do whatever is needed to protect the public”.
“The Southport Inquiry identified fundamental failings, across many of our public services in the years leading up to July 2024,” she said. “These devastating failures led to the senseless killing of three young girls and violent attacks on others.”
But Nicola Brook, representing three adult survivors, said the government’s response was first heard by her clients through the media – “not the approach of a government committed to putting the victims first”. Nicola Ryan-Donnelly, representing the families of 22 child survivors, said they were pleased the government accepted the findings but wanted “firm timelines and detailed plans”. She added: “They want to be involved in conversations with these agencies to inform changes.”
The inquiry was commissioned by then Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to examine Rudakubana’s history and interactions with public bodies. Its first phase, which heard nine weeks of evidence, finished in November.