diff --git a/Changelog.md b/Changelog.md
index 8cf38b9637dd8a591b83ed844cf0a0197760af12..c1794c28604285fcef98d7ac76f69d804729c663 100644
--- a/Changelog.md
+++ b/Changelog.md
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@
 
 All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 
+## [0.53] - 2020-09-23
+- DBOARD-328: fixed improper response when router is unknown
+
 ## [0.52] - 2020-09-07
 - POL1-228 (and others):
   - allow /poller/interfaces to be called without an argument
diff --git a/inventory_provider/routes/classifier.py b/inventory_provider/routes/classifier.py
index 1673e80744ec617f0cd2c120f751dc5416a70f76..a9e5e21173e2ff2d3351d8efcfb317626189c46c 100644
--- a/inventory_provider/routes/classifier.py
+++ b/inventory_provider/routes/classifier.py
@@ -33,24 +33,24 @@ def _remove_duplicates_from_list(all):
     return list(tmp_dict.values())
 
 
-def _location_from_router(router_name):
+def _locations_from_router(router_name):
     r = common.get_current_redis()
     result = r.get(f'opsdb:location:{router_name}')
     if not result:
         logger.error(f'error looking up location for {router_name}')
-        return None
+        return []
 
     result = json.loads(result.decode('utf-8'))
     if not result:
         logger.error(f'sanity failure: empty list for location {router_name}')
-        return None
+        return []
 
-    return {
+    return [{
         'a': _LOCATION(
             equipment=result[0]['equipment-name'],
             name=result[0]['pop']['name'],
             abbreviation=result[0]['pop']['abbreviation'])
-    }
+    }]
 
 
 def _location_from_service_dict(s):
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ def get_juniper_link_info(source_equipment, interface):
             result['related-services'] = top_level_services
 
         if not result['locations']:
-            result['locations'] = [_location_from_router(source_equipment)]
+            result['locations'] = _locations_from_router(source_equipment)
 
         result['locations'] = _remove_duplicates_from_list(result['locations'])
         result = json.dumps(result)
@@ -340,16 +340,14 @@ def peer_info(address):
             info = info.decode('utf-8')
             info = json.loads(info)
             result['ix-public-peer-info'] = ix_peering_info(info)
-            router_location = _location_from_router(info['router'])
-            result['locations'] += [router_location]
+            result['locations'] += _locations_from_router(info['router'])
 
         info = r.get('vpn_rr_peer:%s' % address)
         if info:
             info = info.decode('utf-8')
             info = json.loads(info)
             result['vpn-rr-peer-info'] = info
-            router_location = _location_from_router(info['router'])
-            result['locations'] += [router_location]
+            result['locations'] += _locations_from_router(info['router'])
 
         interfaces = list(find_interfaces_and_services(address))
         if interfaces:
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 5e1f82a7606e8c74ffd5a48bf7db90ff2dc8d258..7535f07008d89e11429aaaed07d2c852060734c4 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ from setuptools import setup, find_packages
 
 setup(
     name='inventory-provider',
-    version="0.52",
+    version="0.53",
     author='GEANT',
     author_email='swd@geant.org',
     description='Dashboard inventory provider',
diff --git a/test/test_classifier_routes.py b/test/test_classifier_routes.py
index 4afac35968354d664183242e34654c3907e18cab..5de175c93a72f52874f8403048dc1cf5707dedad 100644
--- a/test/test_classifier_routes.py
+++ b/test/test_classifier_routes.py
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ JUNIPER_LINK_METADATA = {
         },
         "locations": {"$ref": "#/definitions/locations-list"}
     },
-    # "required": ["interface"],
+    "required": ["interface", "locations"],
     "additionalProperties": False
 }
 
@@ -216,6 +216,28 @@ def test_juniper_link_info_not_found(client):
     }
 
 
+def test_juniper_link_unknown_router(client):
+    rv = client.get(
+        '/classifier/juniper-link-info/'
+        'unknown-router/unknown-interface-name',
+        headers=DEFAULT_REQUEST_HEADERS)
+    assert rv.status_code == 200
+    assert rv.is_json
+    response_data = json.loads(rv.data.decode('utf-8'))
+    jsonschema.validate(response_data, JUNIPER_LINK_METADATA)
+    assert response_data == {
+        'interface': {
+            'name': 'unknown-interface-name',
+            'description': '',
+            'ipv4': [],
+            'ipv6': [],
+            'bundle': [],
+            'bundle_members': []
+        },
+        'locations': []
+    }
+
+
 VPN_RR_PEER_INFO_KEYS = {'vpn-rr-peer-info', 'locations'}
 IX_PUBLIC_PEER_INFO_KEYS = {'ix-public-peer-info', 'interfaces', 'locations'}