FOLLOWING A FAILED drug test, Lindsay Lohan has narrowly missed jail.

She was freed from a suburban Los Angeles jail after posting $300,000 bail.

The presiding judge, Judge Elden Fox, had initially ruled that the 24-year-old actress be held without bail on Friday – but this decision was later overturned.

However, Lohan will be required to wear an ankle bracelet and stay away from bars, clubs and off-licences.

The actor had already spent two weeks in jail earlier this year, waiting for a hearing in relation to her violation of the terms of her probation (over a 2007 conviction for drink-driving and cocaine possession).

Lohan had expected to spend a full month in jail before the hearing, but spend a just two weeks and a further one day at a rehabilitation centre, and was freed on the condition that she participate in drug testing.

She failed her most recent test, which led to an arrest warrant being issued and her latest court appearance.

Lohan has been in and out of court since 2007. In May of that year, she crashed the car she was driving on Sunset Boulevard. Police found cocaine in her vehicle and arrested her on suspicion of drink-driving.

She was arrested on similar charges two months later, in July 2007.

Lohan pleaded guilty to drink-driving, being under the influence of cocaine, and to reckless driving. She spent 84 minutes in jail but was then released due to overcrowding.

The actor was then placed three years’ probation, which was extended by a further year after she failed to attend her court-appointed alcohol education classes.

This summer, she was again found guilty of violating probation by missing the classes.