diff --git a/lib/platform/github/index.js b/lib/platform/github/index.js
index a689e01bf859efcb09cb5db4366a768d11077ecb..ea64c22fd65e0c40ad69ebd4a1eeff71e7ced17a 100644
--- a/lib/platform/github/index.js
+++ b/lib/platform/github/index.js
@@ -123,6 +123,9 @@ async function initRepo({ repository, token, endpoint, forkMode, forkToken }) {
     if (err.statusCode === 404) {
       throw new Error('not-found');
     }
+    if (err.statusCode === 403 && err.message === 'Repository access blocked') {
+      throw new Error('blocked');
+    }
     logger.info({ err, res }, 'Unknown GitHub initRepo error');
     throw err;
   }
diff --git a/test/workers/repository/error.spec.js b/test/workers/repository/error.spec.js
index e651f3895c5aa532e475ebd06bea95b44ade9020..09078ebb640b5dbb7a27e3ca1de2d64dc54e8ff4 100644
--- a/test/workers/repository/error.spec.js
+++ b/test/workers/repository/error.spec.js
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ describe('workers/repository/error', () => {
       'config-validation',
       'registry-failure',
       'archived',
+      'blocked',
       'not-found',
     ];
     errors.forEach(err => {