Vodafone has escaped with an £80 fine after causing gridlock in Truro with unplanned roadworks on Monday.

The multinational mobile operator dug up the road near Tresillian, bringing traffic to a standstill right up to the centre of the city, but restrictions on Cornwall Council's powers mean it can't even demand a fine which is in triple digits.

Vodafone had claimed that its repairs were 'immediate-urgent' meaning the company and its contractor were not required to give prior notification to the council's streetworks team, but when it was notified CORMAC sent a representative to the site and requested the removal of traffic lights to enable the flow of two-way traffic.

The council said has since said that the work did not qualify as urgent, and punished the company accordingly.

Andy Stevenson, Cornwall Council's highways and drainage manager, said: "Under legislation, statutory undertakers - such as utility companies - can carry out works they deem as 'immediate-urgent' without prior notification to the highway authority.

"However, in this case, these works were not urgent and did not warrant the action taken by the utility company which led to significant disruption yesterday.

"As a result, we have issued a fixed penalty notice of £80 - this is the maximum sanction we are legally able to place on a statutory authority for such a breach.

"Our streetworks team work extremely hard to coordinate roadworks on the council's highway network, which is why situations like this are all the more the frustrating."

Councillor Bert Biscoe, Cornwall Council portfolio holder for transport, said: "British road users are at the mercy of infrastructure undertakers and local authorities end up having to try and manage the consequences with little warning and few powers."

The council has since advised the contractors that two way traffic must be maintained between 7am and 7pm while the repairs are carried out.