A roofer has warned against “cowboys” who carry out “shoddy” work and rip off vulnerable residents.

Sean Bennett, from B P Bennett & Son Roofing Contractors, based in High Wycombe, shared a video on social media showing an elderly man’s roof in High Wycombe that they had fixed for free after scammers had carried out a sub-standard “repair”.

The video, which shows the extent of the poor work, has been viewed more than 16,000 times since it was uploaded on Monday.

The 82-year-old man, who lives in Brandshill Avenue in High Wycombe, had paid more than £5,000 for a job that Sean said should have cost no more than £500.

Sean also said the scam roofers “deliberately dislodged” roof tiles in a bid to charge more for the job.

He said: “Warn your elderly friends, family and neighbours. We are getting fed up with putting cowboys work right.

“Today we had a call from an 82-year-old gentleman who had paid more than £5,000 for a job that should have cost no more than £500. The work was shoddy and problems had been purposely made by these cowboys in order to charge more.

“We are seeing this far too often and hope that we can raise some sort of awareness by letting people know never trust a door knocker.

“We put the work they had done right and completed the problems that they made free of charge so this gentleman can gain a bit of trust back into our industry.

“Unfortunately roofers are highly criticised and there are a lot of cowboys that do our work, we would always recommend to never employ someone that knocks on your door telling you their problems and for bigger work you should get three quotes to compare prices to make sure you’re not getting ripped off.”