A DISTINCTIVE yellow New York City taxi cab has been turning heads on the streets of Harborough.

The bizarre spectacle has been leaving onlookers baffled as to why a regular fixture normally seen on Manhattan’s gridlocked streets has found a new home in rural south Leicestershire.

Thanks to social networking website Twitter, the Mail is today able to reveal the man responsible for the colourful vehicle is St Mary Place stalwart John Perry.

Mr Perry, the long-serving shopping centre superintendent, bought the Alfa Romeo 164 on eBay for the princely sum of £595. A 1995 model, the car, complete with its iconic canary-yellow livery, had 115,000 on the clock and its previous use was as a racing car in the Screwball Rally. He bought it from pub licensee’s daughter Samantha Doyle, who works as a barmaid at her father’s pub, The Red Admiral in Broughton Astley. She took to the roads last autumn with fellow drivers Denise Oakley, Paul Wallace and Andrew Campbell, in the taxi for the 2,500-mile rally, taking in Germany, Czechoslovakia and Holland.

Mr Perry was searching eBay to help find a new car for his son, also called John, but when he saw the taxi, he was smitten.

He gave his own Rover 620 to his son while Mr Perry became the proud owner of the distinctive yellow cab.

“It raises a smile whenever someone sees it,” Mr Perry said. “I haven’t had anyone trying to flag it down yet but I’m avoiding driving into town at 1am on a Saturday night for that very reason.”

Mr Perry, who lives in Harborough, is a big fan of classic American cars and has previously owned a Lincoln Continental, Chevrolet Corvette and Chevrolet Camaro.

He has never been to New York or seen the cabs in their native habitat. “My son visited last year but I have never been to New York,” he said. “I have always been fascinated with American cars ever since I was tiny and making model kits of hot rods and drag racers.”

The car was first given the yellow paintjob by Liverpool taxi owner Steve McCall and his 100-year-old father Alf in 2010 to celebrate Alfa Romeo’s 100th anniversary and his father’s centenary. Mr McCall used it as a taxi for city tours until the Screwball Rally team bought it last year.

MEDBOURNE Bowls Club held their end-of-season presentation night at The Hunting Lodge, Cottingham.

Trophies were presented by vice-president Mrs B Walker of Medbourne.

The winners were: Montague Pairs Cup - John Sewell (club chairman) and Isobel Wright (club secretary); Ted Hall Rose Bowl - Jeff Bellamy and Rob Almond; Bill Hull Cup triples - Maureen Black, Gerald Abrams, Ian Marriott; Jubilee Shield triples - Babs Ferrari, Dave Chadwick, Brian Johnson; Ladies Rose Bowl- Joyce Green (club treasurer); President’s Tankard - Maurice Stanton; Eady and Dulley Cup - Dave Chadwick.

The club will begin their 82nd season with an open night on Monday, April 16, at 6.30pm. New members will be most welcome.

RISING star Patrick McCann has been picking up advice from some of Britain’s sporting legends.

The 15-year-old Harborough boxer has completed another workshop as part of the Jaguar Academy of Sport Mentoring and Education Programme.

The latest workshop, in Tunbridge Wells, focused on Body and Mind and was hosted by Olympic, World and Commonwealth medal-winning cyclist Bryan Steel.

McCann, already being mentored by boxing legend Barry McGuigan as part of the scheme, said: “The Mentoring and Education Programme is fantastic. I’ve learnt so much including interacting with the media and how to cope with injury. I would never have received this advice without the Jaguar Academy of Sport.”

Topics have included financial planning, agents and sponsorship, and building a successful team around you. McCann, who struggles to find sparring partners due to his size and reputation, won 3 Nations, National and European schoolboy titles in the last year, and aims to compete at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.