Tom Hardy left locals stunned when he stopped off at a petrol station in Nuneaton on Saturday and cheerfully posed for selfies while preparing for his motorcycle test.

The down to earth Hollywood star, 39, took the time to pose for photos with a group of fans who approached him at the garage to firstly ask he was really the actual Tom Hardy, before requesting a few pictures.

One such fan was Joanne Vowles, who shared snaps of their meeting to social media. Tom is seen wearing a bright orange vest over his black top and sporting a huge smile as he wraps his arms around the group of admirers.

(Image: SWNS-Birmingham) (Image: SWNS-Birmingham)

Joanne told Nuneaton News : "He was so humble, drop-dead gorgeous and a lovely bloke He came over, had a chat and we asked if we could take photos. He said 'no problem put them on Facebook'. He was so lovely.

"I asked him why he was here and he said he was taking his bike test."

Tom's instructor for the motorcycle test was Tim Smith, who owns Two Wheels Motorcycle Training School, and told The Sun : "He’s good to work with, he doesn’t come across as celebrity status. He’s a normal guy, he’s a very nice chap.”

(Image: SWNS-Birmingham) (Image: Getty)

Tim added to Nuneaton News he has astounded how much attention Tom's motorcycle test had received since the actor was spotted by fans, explaining: "He has been having some training with me, we stopped to get some petrol and we got mobbed.

"We were only there about five minutes, he (Tom) was really good, he had photos with lots of people and spoke to them, then I said we ought to go."

Tim declined to reveal whether Tom had been taking his motorcycle test when they stopped at the garage or still doing lessons, citing client confidentiality.

British superstar Tom, who has appeared in movies including The Dark Knight Rises, was at the Esso garage in Whitestone.

(Image: Splash)

As you'd expect, plenty of locals were very disappointed to miss him.

Tom was most recently seen in the BBC mini drama Taboo, as well as the latest series of Peaky Blinders.

He's got a string of movies in development right now including Mad Max: The Wasteland and Dunkirk, the latter of which co-stars One Direction's Harry Styles.

Despite being the star of Dunkirk, Tom admitted earlier this month he's yet to see the full film.

"I haven’t seen the movie yet," he told Total Film . “Again, it’s one of those things with Chris [Nolan, the director] – everything is under a tarpaulin: it’ll be unveiled when he wants it to be unveiled. But there’s always a really specific Nolan style to absolutely everything he does.

"I couldn’t tell you what to expect from this movie. I think that’s part of the magic of his – in inverted commas – ‘brand’.”