'Don't be like Dave': Contractor uses billboard to publicly name and shame customer 'who didn't pay his bill'

A fed-up contractor shamed a customer who allegedly hadn't paid his bill in a very creative way.

The contractor used a big display board with an image of a man called 'Dave' to get his own back on the non-paying customer.

The billboard, which was erected in Colley Gate in in Halesowen near Birmingham, accuses Dave of leaving his bill unpaid for six weeks.

Splashed across the advertisement are the words: 'This is Dave. Dave hasn't paid for a job finished six weeks ago. Don't be like Dave. I have bills to pay too!'

The image with the #PayWhatYouOwe hashtag has since been shared more than a million times on Imgur.

Although their was speculation that it was part of a viral advert campaign, however it appears that he has been put up by someone genuinely searching for payment from a customer.

The image was also shared on Reddit, where commenters sympathised with the contractor who went to great lengths in a bid to get his money back.

However others also pointed out the difficulties they find with paying contractors up front and then waiting weeks for them to start work.

One user said: 'I saw this today in Colley Gate by the local McDonald's. Assumed at first it was some national campaign but now looks like an individual person is being targeted.'

Another said that it may have been a little soon take such drastic measures, writing: '6 weeks is pretty soon to go billboard.'

However another commenter seemed to understand why they had done it, saying: 'Imagine being a contractor ... you use your own cash to pay for materials and now you're not being paid . Labour and materials add up quickly.'

But this was argue against, with one person adding: 'That makes a great deal of sense from the contractor side. 

'Unfortunately from the consumer side it can also go just as poorly- hired a contractor for some landscaping work who had a policy of the 50% up front.... 

'He was going to start 'next weekend' for 9 weeks and only when we were about to fire him and demand our money back did he actually even start.