diff --git a/server/forge/gitea/parse.go b/server/forge/gitea/parse.go
index a8856a611..7b2629b2e 100644
--- a/server/forge/gitea/parse.go
+++ b/server/forge/gitea/parse.go
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 package gitea
 
 import (
+	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"net/http"
 	"strings"
@@ -111,6 +112,11 @@ func parsePullRequestHook(payload io.Reader) (*model.Repo, *model.Pipeline, erro
 		return nil, nil, err
 	}
 
+	if pr.PullRequest == nil {
+		// this should never have happened but it did - so we check
+		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("parsed pull_request webhook does not contain pull_request info")
+	}
+
 	// Don't trigger pipelines for non-code changes ...
 	if pr.Action != actionOpen && pr.Action != actionSync && pr.Action != actionClose {
 		log.Debug().Msgf("pull_request action is '%s' and no open or sync", pr.Action)