laravel - Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_STRING in /var/sites/s/example.co.uk/artisan on line 46 -

i'm trying create (laravel) migration on shell of production shared hosting server. in shell, run following:

/usr/bin/php artisan migrate:make mydatabase 

and receive following error:

warning: unexpected character in input:  '\' (ascii=92) state=1 in /var/sites/s/example.co.uk/artisan on line 46  parse error: syntax error, unexpected t_string in /var/sites/s/example.co.uk/artisan on line 46 

the error references line 46

$artisan = illuminate\console\application::start($app); 

it doesn't seem backslashes, part of original config? don't understand.

furthermore, no matter try artisan

/usr/bin/php artisan --version  warning: unexpected character in input:  '\' (ascii=92) state=1 in /var/sites/s/example.co.uk/artisan on line 46  parse error: syntax error, unexpected t_string in /var/sites/s/example.co.uk/artisan on line 46 

what missing?

check php version php -v, if it's less 5.3 should update because namespaces introduced in php 5.3