diff --git a/src/common/datetimefmt.cpp b/src/common/datetimefmt.cpp
index 64bb825190..a073b3fcfc 100644
--- a/src/common/datetimefmt.cpp
+++ b/src/common/datetimefmt.cpp
@@ -1625,9 +1625,10 @@ wxDateTime::ParseDate(const wxString& date, wxString::const_iterator *end)
     while ( p != pEnd )
     {
         // skip white space and date delimiters
-        while ( wxStrchr(".,/-\t\r\n ", *p) )
+        if ( wxStrchr(".,/-\t\r\n ", *p) )
         {
             ++p;
+            continue;
         }
 
         // modify copy of the iterator as we're not sure if the next token is
diff --git a/tests/datetime/datetimetest.cpp b/tests/datetime/datetimetest.cpp
index 90ec18c939..e21021e47a 100644
--- a/tests/datetime/datetimetest.cpp
+++ b/tests/datetime/datetimetest.cpp
@@ -973,6 +973,7 @@ void DateTimeTestCase::TestDateParse()
         { "29 Feb 2006" },
         { "31/04/06" },
         { "bloordyblop" },
+        { "2 .  .    " },
     };
 
     // special cases