A taxi driver who was shot in the back then stalked in the street by crazed gunman Derrick Bird said today he regarded him as a friend.

Donald Reid, 57, was hit moments after Bird killed their colleague Darren Rewcastle at a taxi rank in Whitehaven.

Mr Reid said he attempted to "dive like Superman" away from Bird as he fired from his Citroen Picasso but was not quick enough.

After being shot, he crawled along the road as the killer got out of his car and stalked him just paces behind with his weapon raised.

He managed to take cover behind taxis on the rank in Duke Street and opened car doors to use as shields against Bird.

Another driver then shouted "Derrick, what the ******* hell are you doing?" before Bird turned away, walked to his car and drove off, Mr Reid said.

David Roberts, the Coroner for North and West Cumbria, asked Mr Reid how well he knew Bird.

He replied: "As a friend. The only thing he has done against me is shoot me in the back."

He was giving evidence at the inquests into the deaths of Bird's twin brother David, 52, solicitor Kevin Commons, 60, Mr Rewcastle, 43, Susan Hughes, 57, Kenneth Fishburn, 71, Isaac Dixon, 65, Jennifer Jackson, 68, and her husband James, 67, Garry Purdham, 31, Jamie Clark, 23, Michael Pike, 64, Jane Robinson, 66, and Bird himself.

Bird had already killed his brother David and Mr Commons before he drove into Whitehaven town centre at around 10.25am on June 2 last year.

Liverpudlian Mr Reid said his taxi was at the front of the rank while Mr Rewcastle's vehicle was at the rear.

Mr Rewcastle was holding a cup of tea he had just bought when Bird pulled up at the back of the rank and called him over.

Mr Reid told the hearing: "He said, 'Darren, here, I want you'. Darren walked across then Derrick just laid into a firing position with a weapon, with the window down, and he just shot him.

"Darren went backwards and then Derrick leaned forward and shot him again.

"He was standing there at point blank range and then he dropped."

The inquest heard last week that Mr Rewcastle was initially shot in the lower face and neck, with the second shot to the stomach.

Bird then drove towards where Mr Reid was standing to the rear of his taxi, he said.

"I thought in slow motion, 'He is going to shoot me'. He raised this weapon and pointed it to me.

"I tried to dive away like Superman but I was not quick enough. He shot me in the back.

"I tried to stand up but my legs were not moving, they went to jelly.

"I started crawling using my knees and elbows and Derrick was walking behind me - four or five paces - with the rifle in his hand."

Asked where he was heading, he replied towards Mr Rewcastle.

"I thought I would give him first aid because I knew he had been shot," he said.

"When I got there Darren did not have a face. There was nothing to be done. I did not check his pulse. He did not have a face."

Bird followed behind and "just stared", he said.

Mr Reid continued: "I got down by Darren and I dragged myself on to the back of his car and moved as fast as I could behind it.

"Derrick was still walking and I started opening car doors to act as shields."

Fellow taxi driver Richard Webster then shouted at Bird who reacted by returning to his taxi and driving off.

CCTV footage played to the jury then picked up Bird driving around the one-way system via Lowther Street where shoppers went about their business unaware of the shootings that had just taken place.

He drove back on to Duke Street and fired two further shots before driving away again.

Mr Reid said: "He came up and fired again. In my direction, I think. At that point we all just ran away."

He was later led away to a nearby television shop where he was given first aid by two female officers as they waited for an ambulance, and gave them a statement "just in case anything happened to me".

Mr Reid said had no clue why Bird targeted him.

"Two good guys have gone (Bird and Mr Rewcastle), old friends. That is not right. As we all know, two wrongs don't make a right," he said.

He told the coroner that he was still suffering psychologically and physically from the events.

Asked about his recovery as he watched the CCTV footage for the first time, he said: "Getting there, slowly."

Shop assistant Barbara Tingay said Mr Rewcastle had just bought tea and a sandwich from the Upper Crust takeaway where she worked alongside the taxi rank when she heard what she thought was a car backfiring.

She looked out of the front window, saw Mr Rewcastle fall backwards and then watched as the gunman aimed and fired at him again.

"I just shouted 'Darren's been shot!' but even then I could not believe he had," she said. "It was surreal."

Shortly after, she heard Mr Reid being shot in the back Mrs Tingay made a 999 call, which was played to the court at Energus in Workington.

She described what she and others in the shop had seen and heard.

Two-and-a-half minutes into the call, a gunshot was heard in the background.

She told the operator: "Oh there's a gunshot again. He's coming back. Yeah. Oh my, he's coming back with the gun shooting."

As more shots sound, the woman call handler tells Mrs Tingay to close the doors and lock everybody in.

One of Mrs Tingay's three colleagues on the day is then heard to say, with crying in the background: "He's still shooting people. Oh my God, oh my God."

When Bird fired his final two shots at the taxi rank, the CCTV cameras show him driving off before a police officer jumps into a car driven by a member of the public and follows in his direction.

Tomorrow, the inquest will hear evidence from taxi drivers Paul Wilson and Terence Kennedy and Mr Kennedy's passenger Emma Percival, who were all shot by Bird as he headed out of the town and towards Egremont, where he continued his killing spree.