9:35p.m. 20th January 2008

A man involved in a crash on the Bruce Highway after a night out at a Brisbane casino blamed his “imaginary friend” for the accident.

Nambour police were called to the single-vehicle traffic crash in the north-bound lanes of the highway near the Mons Road on-ramp at 2.38am on Wednesday.

They found a badly damaged, late-model red Holden ute in a ditch next to the highway, and a man at the scene.

The man initially said that while he owned the vehicle, he had only been a passenger in it when the crash occurred.

The 30-year-old from Bundaberg told police he had spent the evening at the casino in Brisbane, where he had met a male friend. He claimed he had allowed his mate to drive the vehicle, and that the friend was driving when the crash occurred.

The Bundaberg man stated that he did not know his friend’s name or his/her address, nor was he able to provide a description. But he assured police his “imaginary friend” had been driving at the time of the incident.

However, witnesses told police there was only one person in the vehicle at the time of the crash and identified the Bundaberg man.

The man supplied a roadside breath test and later returned a breath specimen indicating he had a blood-alcohol concentration of .170%. He will face the Maroochydore Magistrates Court in February.