Emma Watson has been banned from driving for six months at High Wycombe Magistrates’ Court today.
The Harry Potter star, 35, didn’t appear in court herself but did admit to going 38mph in a 30mph zone.
She was caught speeding in Banbury, Oxford, on July 31 last year and is said to have had nine points on her licence at the time.
The penalty points system operates by adding points to driving licences for traffic offences, with automatic disqualification occurring when drivers accumulate 12 or more points within a three-year period.
The star will have to pay £1,044 in fines, including £660 for a guilty plea, a £264 surcharge and £120 cost, which she must pay within 28 days.
The Beauty and the Beast actress had been driving along a restricted road with a speed camera while studying her doctorate at Oxford University.
Her representative Mark Haslam said she ‘fully understands her position and will accept her punishment’.
‘I ask you to give her credit for the plea of guilty,’ he added and noted that she is a student but ‘is a lady in a position to pay an appropriate fine.’
Court records state she was driving her £30,000 Audi S3 at the time, the same vehicle which was impounded last year and landed her a parking fine.
She had left the car outside the Rose and Crown pub in Stratford-Upon-Avon, blocking a local restaurant manager’s vehicle for three hours.
After being unable to locate the driver, he eventually called the police and Watson had to pay a £192 fine after her appeals were unsuccessful.
At the time, Warwickshire Police confirmed that ‘a report of a blue Audi S3 parked across a driveway and blocking in two cars on High Street near the junction with Sheep Street in Stratford.
‘The report was made at 9.42pm and the car was impounded and taken away at 10.21pm. No crime was recorded.’
Just days later, Watson poked fun at the debacle with the crying laughing face emoji and wrote on X: ‘Still searching for parking in Stratford upon Avon.’
The UN Women Goodwill Ambassador grew up in the spotlight and in 2007 spoke to David Letterman about learning to drive.
She shared that she ‘loves driving’ but confessed that bad driving runs in the family.
‘I can’t wait to be able to drive, but it’s hard,’ she shared at the time. ‘Good driving doesn’t really run in my family genes. My mum is possibly the worst driver ever.’
Coincidentally, Zoe Wanamaker, who starred alongside Watson in Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone in 2001 as Madame Hooch, was caught speeding on August 7, 2024, on the M4 in Newbury, Berkshire.
The 76-year-old drove her blue Volvo at 46mph in a 40mph limit, the court heard.
She was also fined £1,044 and banned for six months. Wanamaker’s lawyer Duncan Jones said that she was not asking for ‘special treatment’ and accepted the fine.
Metro has reached out to Watson’s reps for comment.
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