A UK man has blamed an octopus, squid and even whitebait for why he crashed and flipped his car.

Robert Shapley, 49, told police at the scene of the crash the sea creatures had caused him to overturn his car, despite the crash occurring at least 3km from any ocean.

The Newton Abbot Magistrates' Court heard that he told officers: "It got a bit bumpy for a while. I swerved to avoid an octopus" and "it is pretty bad out there having to dodge all that whitebait".

The man from Devon was eventually checked by paramedics and tested for any drugs in his system.

Though not physically harmed, Shapley was found to have morphine, codeine, cannabis and a byproduct of heroin in his system.

Prosecutor Philip Sewell told the court that the drugs had had an obvious effect.

"He was stumbling around, he wasn't coherent... he was talking about squid, octopus and other sea creatures," Mr Sewell said, later adding that Shapley pretended to be reading an imaginary book about hedgehogs at one point.

Shapley pleaded guilty to a charge of driving while unfit through drugs, though he stated he didn't remember taking any before driving that day.

Newshub.