Staff at the Whitehaven News have been speaking of the day they found themslves caught up in one of the biggest and most horrific news events of the decade with the shooting spree in West Cumbria that left 13 dead.

The News pushed back its weekly deadline yesterday to splash on details of the tragedy in which taxi driver Derrick Bird gunned down 12 victims before turning the weapon on himself.

Traffic to the CN Group title’s website leapt dramatically as readers, national international news outlets flocked to the site for information about the rampage.

Yesterday afternoon, traffic grew from an average of 200 hits an hour to 18,000 and the newsroom was bombarded by requests for interviews and information about the incident.

As well as pushing back the print deadline and keeping the website updated, staff are also putting together a special edition to hit the streets tomorrow.

The paper was on the scene of the first shooting – which took place just two minutes away from its office in Whitehaven – after a tip-off from a local shopkeeper.

Deputy editor Alan Cleaver said: “We had a call from a local shopkeeper who we know who said there had been a shooting in Duke Street. We went down onto the street and sure enough police were starting to seal off the area.

“The police were closing down the area so our reporters who were out at courts or council were locked in. We couldn’t go out and do what we would normally, so our staff started phoning round their contacts from the office.

“There’s a sense on the noticeboards of ‘what’s Cumbria done to deserve this? We hope that we have shown that regional papers are responsible in reporting situations like this.”

Speaking to BBC Radio, editor Colin Edgar added: “When we got the call I thought it would probably be an airgun incident, one person involved. Even now so many hours later I still can’t take it in.”