Thomas Christopher Nano flips car in Beerwah, found with prescription drugs

A Sunshine Coast tradie decided to knock back a frothie while police were investigating his crashed vehicle, uncovering a bag of prescription drugs along the way.

A mulleted Beerwah man has swigged a Tooheys New against the wishes of police after he rolled his car, prompting them to find his bag of prescription meds.

Thomas Christopher Nano, 30, told police about 4pm on June 13, 2022 in Beerwah he may have been speeding when he rolled his vehicle onto its roof on Old Gympie Rd.

Police prosecutor Stephen Potter told Caloundra Magistrates Court officers discovered a large amount of prescription drugs in 33 boxes inside a bag in his vehicle, with most of the labels torn off.

Sergeant Potter said some of the drugs included codeine, diazepam, and paracetamol and Nano told police he had bought them from a friend for a chronic injury he had.

The Beerwah boilermaker told police he turned left from Pine Camp Rd and overcorrected, flipping his car onto its roof, saying he was “probably going too fast”.

While police were photographing the crash Nano decided to take a swig of a Tooheys New beer, contrary to police directions not to drink.

The court heard Nano had an expired P2 NSW licence and returned a reading of 0.046 blood alcohol content after a breath test.

Defence lawyer Rod Morgan said the boilermaker had been living with an ongoing injury but had always worked.

Nano pleaded guilty to driving unlicensed, possessing medicines, drink driving, contravening a police direction and driver not having proper control of a vehicle, and was fined $1350.

He was also disqualified from driving for three months.

Convictions were recorded.