diff --git a/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Utils/URI.pm b/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Utils/URI.pm
index d434721e8f7bf96a23fc206aaf6ad7a8ee08617f..bcff5ce4ba4b279811544fbc5d5cd172036d906d 100644
--- a/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Utils/URI.pm
+++ b/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Utils/URI.pm
@@ -464,6 +464,7 @@ sub _decode_sqlite {
     }
     else {
       my $new_file = pop(@splitdirs);
+      $new_file ||= q{};
       my $new_path = File::Spec->catpath($volume, File::Spec->catdir(@splitdirs), $new_file);
       if($new_path ne File::Spec->rootdir() && -f $new_path) {
         $dbname = $new_path;