An underpants-clad Brisbane local has chased down an unlicensed driver who ploughed into a shopfront overnight.

Daniel McConnell says his wife got him out of bed when she heard the commotion outside, caused by a car crashing into a fish and chip shop that belongs to one of his mate's mums.

"I come outside in me jocks, and I seen old mate…and I said, 'oi, what are you doing here mate, you gotta wait here,' and he's like, 'na, na, I fell asleep behind the wheel,'" Mr McConnell told TODAY reporter Jess Millward.

"He's just started taking off, so I've run inside, jumped in me little purple car, and started chasing him up the street.

"He went down a side street, and I told the coppers he went down a side street, and they went and got him," Mr McConnell said with a grin.

"And I was just chasing him in me jocks."

Mr McConnell said the fellow "didn't seem normal", "might have been under the influence of something", and that he couldn't let the incident slide.

"That's the idea of a friendly community, mate," he said. "It was me mate's mum's shop, and they’ve had that for a long time, and just to see the damage done to it, it's shocking. Absolutely just shocking."

The 35-year-old Redcliffe man at the wheel of the car has been charged with unlicensed driving.