"the problem would be to get to the runway with the nosewheel steering locked!"
Not really, the nose u/c can still turn, otherwise the tug would be unable to steer during pushback. Differential braking would be capable of 'castoring' the nose gear.
"So what happened to the ground engineers? A pat on the back for coming up with a cheap solution that worked really well?"
In my experience the minimum disiplinary action would be a suspension (for several days depending on circumstances) loss of pay and a loss of incremental pay rise.
When the dust settles on any incident like this, the enquiry often shows things like, lack of tooling, pressure to get the job done, interference from management IE .." get it done or it's your job" attitude, lack of good handover during shift changes, tired, cold and hungry personel etc, oh and yes sometimes people just forget.
Procedures are there for a reason, divert from them for any reason and there is a good chance you will get bitten on the a£se!
