Sue Devaney’s (pictured outside Flintshire Magistrates) car was caught speeding in Ffordd Morfa Nefyn, Porthmadoc, north Wales, in July last year, a court heard today
An actress who starred in Coronation Street, Dinnerladies and Casualty let her Hollywood actor friend drive her car uninsured because she ‘had a panic attack’.
Sue Devaney’s car was caught speeding in Ffordd Morfa Nefyn, Porthmadoc, north Wales, in July last year, a court heard today.
When a letter was sent to her house, Devaney, 50, told officials it was her Los-Angeles-based friend Nicholas Newbould driving and not her.
She was further pressed on whether he was insured to drive her Seat, but gave no response, Flintshire Magistrates Court, Mold heard this afternoon.
Representing herself she said she ‘had a tough year’, suffering a mental break down, being out of work and forced to ‘sign on’.
Newbould, of Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, who last appeared on UK TV on Loose Women in 2013, was also in court. He watched as Devaney, who appeared under her real name of Susan Barber, admitted permitting no insurance and was fined £120 with £115 in additional costs.
Devaney, of Market Street Shawforth in Lancashire, denied not responding to the letter sent to her.
When a letter was sent to her house, Devaney (pictured) 50, told officials it was her Los-Angeles-based friend Nicholas Newbould driving and not her
Her friend was driving because she was having panic attacks, she said.
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 told the hearing.
She did not return home until January when she found the further correspondence.
‘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.
Representing herself, the former Coronation Street actress (pictured centre with friends) said she ‘had a tough year’, suffering a mental break down, being out of work and forced to ‘sign on
‘I will be signing on until I get another acting job,’ she explained.
The 50-year-old 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; was in Shameless, and last November appeared on the BB1 quiz programme ‘Pointless Celebrities’.
On the Cobbles: Sue Devaney played Debbie Webster (pictured left alongside Margarette Francis)
Debbie Webster (played by Sue Devaney, centre) with Bill Webster (Peter Armitage, right) and Kevin Webster (Michael Le Vell, left) on Coronation Street in 1984
Sue Devaney, real name Susan Barber, is pictured during her stint on Casualty in 1995