diff --git a/rowers/dataroutines.py b/rowers/dataroutines.py
index b08fc1a7..c5acc04d 100644
--- a/rowers/dataroutines.py
+++ b/rowers/dataroutines.py
@@ -1557,7 +1557,10 @@ def read_data(columns, ids=[], doclean=True, workstrokesonly=True, debug=False,
                         pass
                 data.append(df)
 
-    data = pl.collect_all(data)
+    try:
+        data = pl.collect_all(data)
+    except ComputeError:
+        return pl.DataFrame()
     if len(data)==0:
         return pl.DataFrame()