Soap star Susan Cleaver 'ashamed' of drink driving

CORONATION Street star Susan Cleaver told a court yesterday that she was "highly ashamed" as she was banned from the road for 17 months after drink-driving.

The actress, who plays taxi-firm worker Eileen Grimshaw in the ITV soap, was nearly twice the legal limit when she hit a kerb in the early hours of the morning.

Magistrates in Manchester heard that her "spur-of-the-moment decision" to drive at night "could not have been more out of character" as she pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol.

Cleaver, 46, was driving a Land Rover Freelander when she was pulled over less than a mile from her home.

Cleaver was also fined 1,000 and ordered to pay 85 prosecution costs.