The taxi driver who fled the scene of the Southport stabbing attack and waited 50 minutes before calling 999 has had his licence stripped.

Gary Poland had driven killer Axel Rudakubana to the Hart Space dance studio on 29 July 2024, where the 17-year-old walked into a Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop and began stabbing children at random.

Dashboard camera footage, played to the public inquiry into the attack, showed how Poland drove away as screaming children streamed out of the building in what he described as being “like a stampede for their lives”.

Sefton Council confirmed his taxi licence has since been revoked because he “did not meet the appropriate standards”.

Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine; Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven and Bebe King, six were killed while eight other children and two adults were severely wounded.

The Southport Inquiry at Liverpool Town Hall last year heard how Rudakubana got out of Poland’s taxi without paying after calling for a lift from near his home in Banks, west Lancashire, where he had given the false name Simon.

Poland followed the teenager and shouted that he needed to pay, but was ignored as Rudakubana made his way up a flight of stairs into the dance studios.

As Poland drove away he called a friend instead of the emergency services.

The inquiry heard he even collected another fare and dropped the customer off, before speaking to his wife and finally deciding to call 999 when he arrived home at 12:36 BST.

Poland, who gave evidence via video-link, told the inquiry he “went into panic mode” and believed there had been a shooting.

In his statement to the inquiry he said: “I regret not helping the children, their screams were harrowing and I can still hear them when I think back to that day.”

Poland was quizzed about the conditions of the taxi licence handed out by Sefton Council – which states that drivers are in a “good position to help to keep children and young people safe”.

The conditions go on to state: “If, of course, you feel a child or young person is in serious danger of immediate harm, you should call the emergency police telephone number, 999.”

Poland agreed with Nicholas Moss KC, counsel to the inquiry, that the guidance was “common sense”.

The inquiry heard that Poland’s failure to call 999 immediately did not result in a significant delay because dance class teacher Leanne Lucas was able to make a call herself moments after the attack began, despite being critically injured by multiple stab wounds.

Sefton Council said in a statement: “Mr Poland no longer holds a taxi driver licence following a review into his fitness to hold it by the local authority.

“The council found he did not meet the appropriate standards.”

A spokesperson said taxi licensing hearings are held in private and the precise reasoning for a revocation are not made public.

Earlier Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood confirmed the government would implement the full recommendations made by Sir Adrian Fulford, chair of the Southport Inquiry, following his report into its first phase.

Sir Adrian found that a series of systemic failures by various agencies who came into contact with Rudakubana, as well as the failure of his parents to “do morally what they ought to have done”, meant the attack could have been prevented.

In a 760-page report published in April, he called for the end of what he described as a “culture” of agencies passing responsibility between each other or downgrading their own involvement in cases such as Rudakubana’s.

He said a “merry-go-round” of referrals, assessments and “hand-offs” – alongside the killer’s autism being used as an “excuse” for past conduct – meant no agency understood the danger he posed.

Today Mahmood said: “We will do whatever is needed to protect the public.”

She added that her department would now carry out the necessary work “with the urgency it deserves”.

The second phase of the inquiry is expected to consider the adequacy of multi-agency systems to address the risk posed by young people whose desire to commit acts of extreme violence presents a significant risk to public safety.

Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, external, X, external, and Instagram, external. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.