THE misery of payday loans is being highlighted in Middlesbrough with the help of two local artists.

The Pay Day May Day poster campaign is an attempt to encourage people to use affordable credit, such as Credit Unions, as an alternative to payday loans.

A poster, designed by young artists David Patterson and Antony Spence is being displayed across the town centre and community buildings in Middlesbrough.

Mr Patterson, 27, from Ormesby, and Mr Spence, 20, from Darlington, separately submitted designs to a competition run by the Middlesbrough Partnership and the Know Your Money Project.

Councillor Tracy Harvey, Middlesbrough Council’s Executive Lead for Welfare Reform, said: “We had some brilliant entries, but after a while we could see that both David and Antony had original ideas that we really wanted to use.

“We are delighted with the end result. The poster is striking and really gets the message across that, as it says in its strapline ‘If you are struggling with money, make sure you make the right choice’.”

The poster also contains the numbers for Middlesbrough Council’s debt advice service, Citizen’s Advice Bureau and the Know Your Money project.

Mr Patterson has recently graduated from Teesside University where he studied a BA (Hons) in Graphic Design and currently works at West Middlesbrough Neighbourhood Trust as a Graphic Designer.

Mr Spence, who is in his second year at Teesside University studying graphic design, said his motivation came from wanting to show “how evil and tempting payday loans are”.