diff --git a/sax/m_sax_xml_source.F90 b/sax/m_sax_xml_source.F90
index 21c238e6..5b668a80 100644
--- a/sax/m_sax_xml_source.F90
+++ b/sax/m_sax_xml_source.F90
@@ -205,6 +205,11 @@ subroutine parse_declaration(f, eof, es, standalone)
     ch => null()
     do
       c = get_char_from_file(f, XML1_0, eof, es)
+      ! If we don't have a sensible character it may be a Byte 
+      ! Order Mark. Skip it and carry on to see if we can still
+      ! read.
+      if (parse_state == XD_0 .and. c /= '<') &
+        cycle
       if (eof) then
         call rewind_source(f)
         exit
diff --git a/sax/test/test_sax_fsm_1_utf16_bom.in b/sax/test/test_sax_fsm_1_utf16_bom.in
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f2b77061
Binary files /dev/null and b/sax/test/test_sax_fsm_1_utf16_bom.in differ
diff --git a/sax/test/test_sax_fsm_1_utf8_bom.in b/sax/test/test_sax_fsm_1_utf8_bom.in
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..eabf51ce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sax/test/test_sax_fsm_1_utf8_bom.in
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+<?xml version="1.1" standalone="yes"?>
+<a/>
diff --git a/sax/test/test_sax_parser_6.f90 b/sax/test/test_sax_parser_6.f90
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f14b8ad4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sax/test/test_sax_parser_6.f90
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+program test_sax_reader
+
+  use FoX_sax
+  type(xml_t) :: xp
+  integer :: iostat
+
+  call open_xml_file(xp, "test_sax_fsm_1_utf8_bom.in", iostat)
+
+  write(*,'(i1)') iostat
+
+  call parse(xp)
+
+  call close_xml_t(xp) 
+
+end program test_sax_reader
diff --git a/sax/test/test_sax_parser_6.out b/sax/test/test_sax_parser_6.out
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..573541ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sax/test/test_sax_parser_6.out
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+0
diff --git a/sax/test/test_sax_parser_7.f90 b/sax/test/test_sax_parser_7.f90
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9f181a7a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sax/test/test_sax_parser_7.f90
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+program test_sax_reader
+
+  use FoX_sax
+  type(xml_t) :: xp
+  integer :: iostat
+
+  call open_xml_file(xp, "test_sax_fsm_1_utf16_bom.in", iostat)
+
+  write(*,'(i1)') iostat
+
+  call parse(xp)
+
+  call close_xml_t(xp) 
+
+end program test_sax_reader
diff --git a/sax/test/test_sax_parser_7.out b/sax/test/test_sax_parser_7.out
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2ccae3f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sax/test/test_sax_parser_7.out
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+0
+ERROR(FoX)
+Illegal character found at test_sax_fsm_1_utf16_bom.in:0:3 Error parsing XML declaration (Possibly near line=0 col=3)