diff --git a/modules/dcache/src/main/java/diskCacheV111/services/space/Manager.java b/modules/dcache/src/main/java/diskCacheV111/services/space/Manager.java
index b3913732bed..d762127087b 100644
--- a/modules/dcache/src/main/java/diskCacheV111/services/space/Manager.java
+++ b/modules/dcache/src/main/java/diskCacheV111/services/space/Manager.java
@@ -4641,7 +4641,12 @@ public void selectPool(CellMessage envelope,
                          *
                          */
                         if (selectWritePool.getReturnCode()!=0) {
-                                file = getFile(pnfsId);
+                                try {
+                                        file = getFile(pnfsId);
+                                } catch(SQLException ignored) {
+                                        logger.trace(ignored.getMessage());
+                                        return;
+                                }
                                 Connection connection = null;
                                 try {
                                         connection = connection_pool.getConnection();
@@ -4652,7 +4657,7 @@ public void selectPool(CellMessage envelope,
                                         connection = null;
                                 }
                                 catch(SQLException sqle) {
-                                        logger.error("failed to remove file {}: {}",
+                                        logger.error("Failed to nullify pnfsid of file {}: {}",
                                                      file, sqle.getMessage());
                                         if (connection!=null) {
                                                 try {
@@ -4672,7 +4677,6 @@ public void selectPool(CellMessage envelope,
                 }
         }
 
-
     private void forwardToPoolManager(CellMessage cellMessage)
         {
             logger.trace("just forwarding the message to {}", poolManagerStub.getDestinationPath());