Illuminate\Database\QueryException

SQLSTATE[HY000] [2002] No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it.

        // message to include the bindings with SQL, which will make this exception a

        // lot more helpful to the developer instead of just the database's errors.

        catch (Exception $e) {

            throw new QueryException(

                $query, $this->prepareBindings($bindings), $e

            );

Solution

I'm running Laravel locally and I had mysql service stopped via Xampp. All I did was to start the SQL service using the Xampp control menu.