An actress allowed her American actor friend to drive her car when she had a panic attack but the vehicle was not insured, a court heard.

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 at Mold and was fined £120 with £85 costs and a £30 surcharge after she pleaded guilty to permitting driving with no insurance.

Prosecutor Shaun Bartlett-Evans said a Seat car was caught speeding in Ffordd Morfa Nefyn in Porthmadoc in July.

When a notice was sent out to identify who was behind the wheel, Barber said 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 it had been a tough year.

She had suffered a breakdown 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 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.

Mr Newbould was in court with her.

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

Asked about her means, on which to base the fine, she said 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 said.

Sue Devaney, born Susan Barber, has appeared in Coronation Street as Debbie Webster, and has also appeared in Jonny Briggs, Casualty and Dinner Ladies.

She also has an extensive stage career with rolls in London productions of When we were Married, The Winds in the Willows and The Land or the Living.

She also starred in the Mamma Mia musical for a summer season in Blackpool Opera House.

In the early 1990s she appeared in a commercial for the Gateway supermarket chain, she was in Shameless and last November appeared on the BB1 quiz programme Pointless Celebrities