A WELL-KNOWN actress allowed her friend, an American actor, to drive her car when she had a panic attack – but he was not insured, a court heard last week.

Sue Devaney, who appeared under her real name of Susan Barber, said that she did not know what her next acting job would be and would have to “sign on”.

Barber, 50, of Market Street Shawforth in Lancashire, appeared at Flintshire Magistrates’ Court in Mold and was fined £120 with £85 costs and a £30 surcharge after she pleaded guilty to permitting the driving with no insurance.

Barber is best known for her stints in ’80s children’s TV show Johnny Briggs and playing Debbie Webster in Coronation Street as well as spells in Shameless and Dinnerladies.

Prosecutor Shaun Bartlett-Evans said that a Seat car was caught speeding in Ffordd Morfa Nefyn in Porthmadog in July last year.

When a notice was sent out to identify who was behind the wheel, Barber said that the driver was Nicholas Newbould of Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, California.

She was asked to show that the driver was insured in her car but she did not respond and the matter ended up in court.

Representing herself, she said that it had been a tough year. She had suffered a break-down but was guilty of not responding to the mail. Her friend was driving because she was having panic attacks. When she had the original letter through she filled it in correctly.

But as an actress she worked away a lot and was away for months while she worked in theatre in Bolton. She did not return home until January when she found the further correspondence. Her friend Newbould from Los Angeles was in court.

“We have his details but that does not matter now,” she said.

Asked about her means, on which to base the fine, she said that she was not working at the moment. She had finished her last job in Bolton and did not know what her next job would be .

“I will be signing on until I get another acting job,” she explained.