More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
A replica Harry Potter car has vanished but not by magic.
The Ford Anglia was stolen from a garage in Station Road, Walmer.
And now owner Steven Wickenden is appealing for witnesses to help get it back.
He told KentOnline: "I went to the garage to take a tyre pump from the car this morning and I found the garage door unlocked and the car gone.
"It is devastating."
Mr Wickenden discovered the theft at noon today.
He had last seen it secured in the garage last Monday and it is not know exactly when over the following six days that it was stolen.
Mr Wickenden, 47, of Walmer Gardens, Walmer, has gathered information has now learned that witnesses saw it being driven away.
He said:"I have heard that a postman saw a young lad driving the car and the lad asked him for directions to Dover.
"He then went racing off down the street."
The information Mr Wickenden has so far is still sketchy and second hand so he doesn't yet know the day of that encounter.
Mr Wickenden has had the light blue 1965 105E model, registered GKX 840C, for two years.
It is for hire for Harry Potter themed weddings, birthday parties, fun days and for TV and movie filming.
It is also used in local fundraising events.
The car even has a model of a snowy owl in a cage in the back seat, like in the smash hit movies of the boy wizard.
It has had stars from the films in the driving seat, like Rupert Grint who played Harry's best friend Ron Weasley and Julie Walters, Ron's mother Molly.
These and other cast and crew have signed the vehicle.
In the film series Harry Potter is seen in a light blue Ford Anglia that can fly and turn invisible.
The movies have been a runaway success since the first one, Harry Potter and the Philosophers's Stone, in 2001.
They are based on the novels by JK Rowling.
The Harry Potter car is a last generation Ford Anglia, made between 1959 and 1968. It is particularly distinguishable by its backward-slanted rear window.
A Kent Police spokesman said: "We are investigating a report that a blue Ford Anglia was stolen from a garage in Station Road, Walmer.
"The vehicle is believed to have been taken between 3.15pm on Monday 14 October and midday on Sunday 20 October 2019.
"At present it has not been located and no arrests have been made."
Anyone with information should call Kent Police on 01843 222289 quoting the reference number 46/201939/19.
Alternatively you can contact the charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or using the anonymous online form at Crimestoppers-uk.org
