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(Image: BBC)

When police attended the scene after Robert Shapley had crashed his car on the A381 in Devon he claimed that he had lost control of his vehicle die to a sudden attack of sea creatures.

Officers who attended on February 5 said he was incoherent and mumbled to them about having seen whitebait, octopus and other marine creatures on the road.

He also pretended to be reading an imaginary book about hedgehogs.

Shapley told them: "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".

Officers said they found no evidence of an octopus on the road.

(Image: Apex)

In fact, the court heard, Shapley was under the influence of a prodigious amount of drugs, including morphine, codeine, cannabis, and a by-product of heroin.

Philip Sewell, prosecuting, said the crash happened at a junction after Shapley's car overtook another.

His car ended up on its roof in a ditch on the A381 between Malborough and South Milton.

"He was stumbling around, he wasn't coherent," Mr Sewell said.

Police were called at about 5.15pm and put him in one of their cars before he was checked over by paramedics.

"He continued to talk to the officers, he was talking about squid, octopus and other sea creatures," Mr Sewell said, adding that he later pretended to be reading an imaginary book about hedgehogs.

(Image: Google Maps)

The fact that a local prankster had erected a comedy sign with an octopus on it was discounted as a cause, as this occurred well after the incident.

Simon Colman, defending, said Shapley suffered from depression and anxiety and took prescription drugs and heroin, but did not remember taking anything prior to driving.

Magistrates said they took a "very dim view" of his driving and adjourned the case for a report to be prepared about whether he was suitable for a drug rehabilitation requirement.