diff --git a/lib/platform/github/index.js b/lib/platform/github/index.js
index 536fa8e84a115d03ed6a9595e2bfa8f481f87eed..4cd650173f4d8efe7ffc50835eddbf0798652f9c 100644
--- a/lib/platform/github/index.js
+++ b/lib/platform/github/index.js
@@ -221,15 +221,24 @@ async function initRepo({
       );
       // This is a lovely "hack" by GitHub that lets us force update our fork's master
       // with the base commit from the parent repository
-      await get.patch(
-        `repos/${config.repository}/git/refs/heads/${config.baseBranch}`,
-        {
-          body: {
-            sha: parentSha,
-          },
-          token: forkToken || opts.token,
+      try {
+        await get.patch(
+          `repos/${config.repository}/git/refs/heads/${config.baseBranch}`,
+          {
+            body: {
+              sha: parentSha,
+            },
+            token: forkToken || opts.token,
+          }
+        );
+      } catch (err) /* istanbul ignore next */ {
+        if (
+          err.statusCode === 422 &&
+          err.message.startsWith('Object does not exist')
+        ) {
+          throw new Error('repository-changed');
         }
-      );
+      }
     } else {
       logger.info({ repository_fork: config.repository }, 'Created fork');
       // Wait an arbitrary 30s to hopefully give GitHub enough time for forking to complete