A BANNED driver refused to wear an electronic ankle tag — because she didn’t want to ruin her 40th birthday celebrations.

Michelle Allonby, 39, was ordered to undergo a curfew by magistrates after she was convicted of driving while disqualified and having no insurance.

But Reedley Magistrates Court was told that when security staff from G4S, which runs the electronic tagging system, arrived at her Pendle home to install monitoring equipment, she refused to let them in.

Her lawyer Hilary Doherty told magistrates that Allonby, of Larkhill Avenue, Reedley, had invited family from all over the country, and Ireland, for her birthday celebrations on November 15.

She told the court that the defendant would be “highly embarrassed” by the tag’s presence at the gathering.

Allonby had bought a new dress especially for the occasion and she could not face the “disappointment” of her relatives if she showed up for the party wearing a tag.

Miss Doherty said that her client had not been in court for some time and was prepared to undertake an alternative form of sentence.

“She knows she had done wrong and needs to be punished. She is extremely willing to do unpaid work for the community or anything else the court wishes to impose in the circumstances,” she added.

The court heard that female defendants were usually advised, when the sentence was passed, that they could wear trousers to conceal the tag.

Magistrates chairman Neil Beecham said: “This is an order of the court and you cannot tell G4S you are not going to comply with it.”

Allonby admitted breaching a curfew order and was given a new order, lasting for 10 weeks, which will expire on Christmas Eve.