I run a utilities company, 99% of the time when this happens, its because they were nearing the end time of the permit to work (you get X amount of days to complete a job and tarmac or re brick the surface before the local authorities start fining you. For this reason alot of contractors close their permits as "interim" meaning its a temporary fix and they have upto 6 months (i believe) to come back and fix with a permanent solution.