diff --git a/lib/checkother.cpp b/lib/checkother.cpp
index a03e4bd6b54..40fd10a97d4 100644
--- a/lib/checkother.cpp
+++ b/lib/checkother.cpp
@@ -2999,7 +2999,7 @@ void CheckOther::checkNegativeBitwiseShift()
         // don't warn if lhs is a class. this is an overloaded operator then
         if (tok->isCpp()) {
             const ValueType * lhsType = tok->astOperand1()->valueType();
-            if (!lhsType || !lhsType->isIntegral())
+            if (!lhsType || !lhsType->isIntegral() || lhsType->pointer)
                 continue;
         }
 
diff --git a/test/testother.cpp b/test/testother.cpp
index 3c488a7d013..da58be85e81 100644
--- a/test/testother.cpp
+++ b/test/testother.cpp
@@ -9113,6 +9113,13 @@ class TestOther : public TestFixture {
                       "[test.cpp:2]: (error) Shifting by a negative value is undefined behaviour\n"
                       "[test.cpp:3]: (portability) Shifting a negative value is technically undefined behaviour\n"
                       "[test.cpp:4]: (portability) Shifting a negative value is technically undefined behaviour\n", errout_str());
+
+        check("void f(int i) {\n" // #12916
+              "    if (i < 0) {\n"
+              "        g(\"abc\" << i);\n"
+              "    }\n"
+              "}\n");
+        ASSERT_EQUALS("", errout_str());
     }
 
     void incompleteArrayFill() {