diff --git a/lib/workers/branch/index.js b/lib/workers/branch/index.js
index 6d58e0f4a2..8c8fd159f0 100644
--- a/lib/workers/branch/index.js
+++ b/lib/workers/branch/index.js
@@ -202,7 +202,9 @@ async function processBranch(branchConfig, packageFiles) {
     }
     if (err.message === 'lockfile-error') {
       logger.info('Lock file error');
-    } else if (err.message !== 'registry-failure') {
+      throw err;
+    }
+    if (err.message !== 'registry-failure') {
       logger.error({ err }, `Error updating branch: ${err.message}`);
     }
     // Don't throw here - we don't want to stop the other renovations
diff --git a/lib/workers/repository/error.js b/lib/workers/repository/error.js
index 5f3557cd9d..01200cca13 100644
--- a/lib/workers/repository/error.js
+++ b/lib/workers/repository/error.js
@@ -55,6 +55,9 @@ async function handleError(config, err) {
     logger.warn('Rate limit exceeded - aborting');
     delete config.branchList; // eslint-disable-line no-param-reassign
     return err.message;
+  } else if (err.message === 'lockfile-error') {
+    delete config.branchList; // eslint-disable-line no-param-reassign
+    return err.message;
   }
   // Swallow this error so that other repositories can be processed
   logger.error(
diff --git a/test/workers/repository/error.spec.js b/test/workers/repository/error.spec.js
index 992c3c4e9b..8c07834e9c 100644
--- a/test/workers/repository/error.spec.js
+++ b/test/workers/repository/error.spec.js
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ describe('workers/repository/error', () => {
       'not-found',
       'forbidden',
       'rate-limit-exceeded',
+      'lockfile-error',
     ];
     errors.forEach(err => {
       it(`errors ${err}`, async () => {