PROUD Ilkley ex-pats living in the Antipodes could drive off with a unique personalised car registration plate.

A former Addingham resident who has lived in New Zealand for years is moving on to Australia - but wants to offer those with an Ilkley connection a chance to buy his special car number plate.

Harry Horsman, 60, was the talk of the town in Auckland for his number plate bearing the name 'Ilkley'.

Mr Horsman moved to New Zealand with wife, Elaine, in 1966. They originally worked as weavers, but Mr Horsman went on to become the production manager of the Nestl confectioners factory in Auckland.

When New Zealand made it legal to have personalised number plates in 1988, Mr Horsman decided to register a plate in honour of his Wharfedale homeland.

But restrictions on the number of characters meant he could not have one spelling out the name of his former home village of Addingham - so he went for the next town along, and chose Ilkley.

Mr Horsman was amazed by how much attention he attracted.

He said: "I couldn't believe the reaction from people in Auckland. We were often stopped by people who said they were from Ilkley, or their parents or ancestors were from Ilkley. There were a lot of ex-pats out there."

The registration plate was originally borne by a white Mitsubishi Cordia sports car, and later by other Mitsubishi cars owned by Mr Horsman.

He put the number plate up for sale before he left New Zealand but had no responses, so he decided to bring the plates back with him. "I thought if anybody from Ilkley is going out to New Zealand, or has relatives in New Zealand, they might like to own this plate," he said.

Mr and Mrs Horsman were keen to keep up their close ties to the area when abroad. For years Mr Horsman's mother posted out copies of the Ilkley Gazette to him, and when he bought a home computer, he began to read the newspaper online.

They are currently living near Keighley, but plan to move back out to Australia shortly. Mr Horsman wants to give those with a strong Ilkley connection first chance to buy the registration plate.

He said some personalised registration plates have sold for a million dollars in New Zealand.

The plate is legal in New Zealand only, and the buyer will have to pay to have it transferred to his or her own car in the country.

Mr Horsman says an Ilkley person may want to buy the registration plate and keep it here as part of a collection only - as it is not legally registered in Britain.

Mr Horsman is open to bids for the registration plate and can be contacted on (01535) 636739.