diff --git a/core/matchers/src/main/kotlin/au/com/dius/pact/core/matchers/MatcherExecutor.kt b/core/matchers/src/main/kotlin/au/com/dius/pact/core/matchers/MatcherExecutor.kt
index 70c6eed7c0..8033f9814b 100755
--- a/core/matchers/src/main/kotlin/au/com/dius/pact/core/matchers/MatcherExecutor.kt
+++ b/core/matchers/src/main/kotlin/au/com/dius/pact/core/matchers/MatcherExecutor.kt
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ fun <M : Mismatch> matchRegex(
   actual: Any?,
   mismatchFactory: MismatchFactory<M>
 ): List<M> {
-  val matches = if (actual is JsonValue.Null) false else safeToString(actual).matches(Regex(regex))
+  val matches = if (actual == null || actual is JsonValue.Null) false else safeToString(actual).matches(Regex(regex))
   logger.debug { "comparing ${valueOf(actual)} with regexp $regex at $path -> $matches" }
   return if (matches ||
     expected is List<*> && actual is List<*> ||
diff --git a/core/matchers/src/test/groovy/au/com/dius/pact/core/matchers/MatcherExecutorSpec.groovy b/core/matchers/src/test/groovy/au/com/dius/pact/core/matchers/MatcherExecutorSpec.groovy
index 7aa2e40711..320a9ece60 100755
--- a/core/matchers/src/test/groovy/au/com/dius/pact/core/matchers/MatcherExecutorSpec.groovy
+++ b/core/matchers/src/test/groovy/au/com/dius/pact/core/matchers/MatcherExecutorSpec.groovy
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ class MatcherExecutorSpec extends Specification {
     '100'                     | new JsonValue.Integer('20123'.chars)  | '\\d+'       || true
     json('"harry100"')        | json('"20123happy"')                  | '[a-z0-9]+'  || true
     json('"issue1316"')       | JsonValue.Null.INSTANCE               | '[a-z0-9]+'  || false
+    json('"issue1316"')       | null                                  | '[a-z0-9]*'  || false
   }
 
   @Unroll