Emma Watson 'was on a quiet night out with her mother' when police swooped to tow away her £30,000 Audi A3

The Harry Potter star had parked while at a chain pub in Stratford-upon-AvonBut she had blocked a car park entrance – leaving a man trapped for three hours

Harry Potter star Emma Watson was having a quiet night out with a woman believed to be her mother before it was ruined when her car was towed away by police.

The actress, who played Hermione Granger in the hit films, came into bother after she left her £30,000 Audi A3 ‘illegally’ parked while she drank.

Watson, 33, had apparently failed to spot a ‘no parking’ sign and didn’t realise she had left the vehicle outside a car park entrance in the historic town centre of Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire.

A staff member of the pub, who declined to be named, said: ‘She just came in for a few drinks with another person who we believe was her mother.

‘We thought “What is Emma Watson doing in a Greene King pub” – there are nicer, more upmarket places to go in town!

Harry Potter actress Emma Watson’s vehicle was impounded in Stratford-upon-Avon

Watson is said to have pleaded with police not to take her car away during the incident

Watson had been wearing a hat and sitting at a table in the empty section in the front of the pub to keep a low profile. She came in around 9.30pm and left about 11pm

‘Some of the staff were a bit star-struck that she had come in here. We’ve never seen her here before.’

The actress, reported to be worth £67million, is understood to have stuck to a few soft drinks – orange juice.

Her parking oversight led to a furious pizza restaurant manager’s own vehicle being trapped inside the gated compound for three-and-a-half hours.

The frustrated manager – who had finished a 12-hour shift at the Red Hot Mamma pizzeria – trawled local restaurants in a failed bid to locate the owner before calling in police who summoned a tow truck to remove the offending car.

It was only when the blue Audi was being hauled onto a low loader that Watson was alerted to the real-life drama close to the birthplace of William Shakespeare.

Eyewitnesses told how she came ‘flying out’ of the nearby Rose and Crown pub when she realised what was going on before pleading with police not to take her car away.

The millionaire actress and Oxford University student was having a quiet night out with a woman believed to be her mother. Picture shows Watson and her mother Jacqueline Luesby at her graduation ceremony from Brown University in Rhode Island in 2014

Her parking oversight led to a furious pizza restaurant manager’s own vehicle being trapped inside the gated compound for three-and-a-half hours

Watson was photographed when she came out of the pub to try and save her car

Eyewitnesses told how Watson came ‘flying out’ of the nearby Rose and Crown pub where she had been drinking soft drinks – orange juice

Another bartender, who had cleared the glasses from her table, told MailOnline: ‘She had been sitting at the table by the window at the front with her back to the door.

‘Suddenly there was all this commotion outside and she ran out. We weren’t aware at the time but her car was being towed and she must have seen it happening through the window.

‘We felt sorry for her, parking around here is a nightmare and the traffic wardens are the worst.

‘She had only come in for a quiet drink and we later found out that when she in the street pleading for her car not to be taken a big crowd had gathered and people were taking her picture and filming her.’

Photographs obtained by MailOnline show the actress – who was wearing a black French beret and a long dark coat – at the scene with a police officer standing by and the tow-truck driver dressed in high-visibility overalls.

But it appears that no amount of wizardry was going to prevent her car being towed off to the compound as her appeals to be allowed to take back possession of the car fell on deaf ears.

Watson left the vehicle outside a car park entrance in the town centre while she was in the pub

Watson appeared with Rupert Grint and Daniel Radcliffe in all eight Harry Potter movies

Watson, who is currently studying for a part-time master’s degree in creative writing at Oxford, was faced with having to pay a fine of £192 to free her car and a further ‘retention’ charge of £26 for every day that the vehicle remains at the police pound.

The young male worker said: ‘I doubt the fine will do her much damage!

‘But we feel for her because she was trying to keep low key and not be recognised.

‘She was wearing a hat and had sat at a quiet table at the front away from other customers.

‘She came in around 9.30pm and left about 11pm. I don’t know what she was doing in town. We are just around the corner from the theatre so she may have been watching a performance.

‘There were only a handful of other customers on here at the time, maybe that’s why she chose the place.’

His manager, who had also seen her, added: ‘She was easily recognisable but she wasn’t carrying a broomstick!’

The nearby Royal Shakespeare Theatre is currently running productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Merchant Of Venice 1936.

The angry pizza boss, who asked not to be named, told MailOnline: ‘I was trapped in the car park for three and a half hours because a blue car had blocked the exit.

‘Three and a half hours of searching for the driver was the last thing I needed after working a 12-hour shift.

The Royal Shakespeare Theatre around the corner is currently running productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Merchant Of Venice 1936

Emma Watson is pictured opening the door of her Audi car in North London in January 2015

Emma Watson is pictured with her car in St John’s Wood, North London, in December last year

‘The car had parked in front of our gate which is a no-parking zone. I went into every single restaurant in the area asking if anyone owned the car.

‘No one admitted that it was their car so I was forced to call the police so they would move the car and I could get out.

‘But when the police started to tow her car away, she came flying out of the pub shouting, ‘That’s my car, that’s my car!’.

An onlooker told MailOnline: ‘It must have been about 11pm when I saw Emma Watson outside in the street.

‘Police had impounded her Audi A3 and it had been loaded onto a recovery truck. She was out pleading with them not to take her car away.

‘But they weren’t listening and it was towed away. Apparently she had parked in front of some gates and blocked this guy in for hours.

‘A man had come into the pub earlier to say that a blue Audi A3 had blocked the entrance to a car park. The police came first and then they called a recovery vehicle and towed it away.’

Watson has been contacted to comment.

Warwickshire Police confirmed that a report had been logged and a blue Audi was ‘taken away and impounded’.

The Rose and Crown pub was built in 1596 and was once a hostel and then turned into an inn.

According to its owners Greene King, the biggest pub chain in the country, it is ‘not just any inn but one that is embedded in the town’s history’.

Victoria, general manager for the Rose and Crown said: ‘She just came into the pub like any other customer for a few drinks, and we were delighted to serve her and her mother while they were in our business.

‘Whilst we weren’t able to show any live Quidditch, maybe the pub reminded her of the Leaky Cauldron as our history dates right back to the 1500s and would certainly have witnessed some non-muggle activity over the years.’

The mistake comes just weeks after Watson appeared to have a mishap in the same vehicle after she was spotted driving the Audi which had noticeable damage to its front wing and had been patched together with duct tape.

Watson became one of Hollywood’s best paid actresses after appearing in all eight Harry Potter movies.

But she took the decision to step away from the spotlight and take a break from her career following the release of her most recent film Little Women in 2019.

Emma Watson made the decision to take a break from her career in front of the camera with her last film, Little Women, released in 2019

Watson appeared on the front cover of Vogue in December where she talked about her decision to step back from acting and the spotlight

In December she revealed to British Vogue she was ‘so glad’ she decided to step back from the spotlight because it has given her ‘more autonomy’.

In that time she has directed a Prada fragrance commercial, wrote a play and continued stuying on her second degree – after graduating from Brown University in 2014.

Also away from the camera, Emma recently joined forces with her brother Alex to set up a gin business called Renais.

The gin is made from upcycling grapes from vineyards – including their father Chris’s in France.

Emma is thought to have been single since ending her romance with Sir Philip Green’s son Brandon earlier this year.

She has dated Made In Chelsea’s Francis Boulle, Spanish musician Rafael Cebrian and fellow Oxford graduate Will Adamowicz. But none have lasted.

But she has also become known for her outspoken views on feminism and politics – pitting herself against J.K. Rowling by openly backing trans rights.