diff --git a/tools/gen_vc.v b/tools/gen_vc.v
index 67b0519a3c..06bfe3b5ca 100644
--- a/tools/gen_vc.v
+++ b/tools/gen_vc.v
@@ -248,8 +248,12 @@ fn (gen_vc mut GenVC) generate() {
 	ts_vc := git_log_vc.find_between('Date:', '\n').trim_space()
 
 	// parse time as string to time.Time
-	last_commit_time_v  := time.parse(ts_v)
-	last_commit_time_vc := time.parse(ts_vc)
+	last_commit_time_v  := time.parse(ts_v) or {
+		panic(err)
+	}
+	last_commit_time_vc := time.parse(ts_vc) or {
+		panic(err)
+	}
 
 	// git dates are in users local timezone and v time.parse does not parse
 	// timezones at the moment, so for now get unix timestamp from output also
diff --git a/vlib/time/time.v b/vlib/time/time.v
index f52ff70013..8cbf7e96c9 100644
--- a/vlib/time/time.v
+++ b/vlib/time/time.v
@@ -177,24 +177,21 @@ pub fn (t Time) clean12() string {
 	// return fmt.Sprintf("%4d/%02d/%02d", t.Year(), t.Month(), t.Day()) + " " + hm
 }
 // `parse` parses time in the following format: "2018-01-27 12:48:34"
-pub fn parse(s string) Time {
-	// println('parse="$s"')
+pub fn parse(s string) ?Time {
 	pos := s.index(' ') or {
-		println('bad time format')
-		return now()
+		return error('Invalid time format: $s')
 	}
 	symd := s[..pos]
 	ymd := symd.split('-')
 	if ymd.len != 3 {
-		println('bad time format')
-		return now()
+		return error('Invalid time format: $s')
 	}
 	shms := s[pos..]
 	hms := shms.split(':')
 	hour := hms[0][1..]
 	minute := hms[1]
 	second := hms[2]
-	// //////////
+
 	return new_time(Time{
 		year: ymd[0].int()
 		month: ymd[1].int()
@@ -206,19 +203,25 @@ pub fn parse(s string) Time {
 }
 
 // `parse_iso` parses time in the following format: "Thu, 12 Dec 2019 06:07:45 GMT"
-pub fn parse_iso(s string) Time {
+pub fn parse_iso(s string) ?Time {
 	fields := s.split(' ')
 	if fields.len < 5 {
-		return Time{}
+		return error('Invalid time format: $s')
 	}
 	pos := months_string.index(fields[2]) or {
-		return Time{}
+		return error('Invalid time format: $s')
 	}
 	mm := pos / 3 + 1
 	tmstr := malloc(s.len * 2)
 	count := C.sprintf(charptr(tmstr), '%s-%02d-%s %s'.str, fields[3].str, mm,
 		fields[1].str, fields[4].str)
-	return parse(tos(tmstr, count))
+
+	t := parse(tos(tmstr, count)) or {
+		// FIXME Remove this when optional forwarding is fixed.
+		return error('Invalid time format: $s')
+	}
+
+	return t
 }
 
 pub fn new_time(t Time) Time {
diff --git a/vlib/time/time_test.v b/vlib/time/time_test.v
index d88a8e90d6..d78a65d488 100644
--- a/vlib/time/time_test.v
+++ b/vlib/time/time_test.v
@@ -221,23 +221,47 @@ fn test_get_fmt_str() {
 
 fn test_parse() {
 	s := '2018-01-27 12:48:34'
-	t := time.parse(s)
+	t := time.parse(s) or {
+		assert false
+		return
+	}
 	assert t.year == 2018 && t.month == 1 && t.day == 27 && t.hour == 12 && t.minute == 48 && t.second == 34
 	assert t.unix == 1517057314
 }
 
+fn test_parse_invalid() {
+	s := 'Invalid time string'
+	t := time.parse(s) or {
+		assert true
+		return
+	}
+	assert false
+}
+
 fn test_parse_iso() {
 	s1 := 'Thu, 12 Dec 2019 06:07:45 GMT'
-	t1 := time.parse_iso(s1)
+	t1 := time.parse_iso(s1) or {
+		assert false
+		return
+	}
 	assert t1.year == 2019 && t1.month == 12 && t1.day == 12 && t1.hour == 6 && t1.minute == 7 && t1.second == 45
 	assert t1.unix == 1576130865
 	s2 := 'Thu 12 Dec 2019 06:07:45 +0800'
-	t2 := time.parse_iso(s2)
+	t2 := time.parse_iso(s2) or {
+		assert false
+		return
+	}
 	assert t2.year == 2019 && t2.month == 12 && t2.day == 12 && t2.hour == 6 && t2.minute == 7 && t2.second == 45
 	assert t2.unix == 1576130865
+}
+
+fn test_parse_iso_invalid() {
 	s3 := 'Thu 12 Foo 2019 06:07:45 +0800'
-	t3 := time.parse_iso(s3)
-	assert t3.year == 0 && t3.month == 0 && t3.day == 0 && t3.hour == 0 && t3.minute == 0 && t3.second == 0
+	t3 := time.parse_iso(s3) or {
+		assert true
+		return
+	}
+	assert false
 }
 
 fn test_str() {