A county councillor has made enquiries about whether a gas company will be fined for the major disruption it caused in Watford earlier this week.
Central Watford councillor Stephen Giles-Medhurst has also demanded an apology from Cadent after the company put temporary traffic lights in the wrong location leading to gridlock.
Thousands of drivers were caught up in long delays from Monday evening to Wednesday because of multi-way traffic lights on the ring road at the junction with Clarendon Road.
Hertfordshire County Council later confirmed Cadent did not have permission to put lights there - instead the council says the temporary lights were meant to be in Clarendon Road.
Cllr Giles-Medhurst says he has learned the council tried to get hold of Cadent on Tuesday after officers realised the traffic lights had been put in the wrong place after seeing photos published on the Observer website.
But he says the council said it could not get through to Cadent to get the lights moved so a decision was taken at midday on Tuesday to revoke Cadent's permit, giving them up to 24 hours to clear the site.
The normal traffic lights at this junction were eventually reinstated between 5.30pm and 6pm on Wednesday.
Cllr Giles-Medhurst, who was abroad and on leave while the issues were occurring, told the Observer: "Cadent must explain themselves and apologise to the people of Watford for causing unnecessary disruption and delay in putting this right.
"I am asking the council to consider what they can do to fine Cadent and make sure they act responsibly. I am also asking officers have a senior meeting with Cadent to make sure it's clear its lax procedures must be put right and there must be an out of hours contact."
The councillor had received an email from a member of the public who said one day of disruption is "understandable" but two is "downright irresponsible".
They added: "This episode is an example of the utterly incompetent, contemptuous and thoughtless attitude to road users in Watford."
The head of highways contracts at Hertfordshire County Council is said to have asked his officers to get an explanation out of Cadent about what happened and what the company will do to avoid a repeat situation.
A spokesperson for the council said on Wednesday morning: "Our network management team authorised Cadent Gas to put three-way temporary traffic lights at the junction of Clarendon Road and Gartlet Road, to allow them to carry out their works safely.
"We did not authorise the use of four-way temporary traffic lights at the junction of Clarendon Road and Beechen Grove.
"Because of the extensive disruption these unauthorised temporary lights have caused, our network management team revoked the permit for the works yesterday afternoon (Tuesday), meaning that Cadent Gas have to make the site safe and remove their equipment from the highway within 24 hours
"We expect that the temporary lights will therefore be removed this afternoon (Wednesday)."
A Cadent statement given on Wednesday did not appear to acknowledge the error the council says the company made.
It said: "Cadent have been carrying out maintenance work in the area. We know this has caused disruption, but we hope that people understand this is essential work to keep the gas flowing safely and reliably to Watford.
"We planned this work closely with Hertfordshire County Council and the temporary traffic arrangements were necessary to ensure the safety of our teams on site. Work began yesterday to clear the site and will be completed by the end of the day."
The Observer is waiting to hear back from Cadent following Cllr Giles-Medhurst's comments.
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