diff --git a/src/fdb5/toc/TocHandler.cc b/src/fdb5/toc/TocHandler.cc
index 68f769578..7b94c4830 100644
--- a/src/fdb5/toc/TocHandler.cc
+++ b/src/fdb5/toc/TocHandler.cc
@@ -674,6 +674,7 @@ eckit::LocalPathName TocHandler::parseSubTocRecord(const TocRecord& r, bool read
     eckit::MemoryStream s(&r.payload_[0], r.maxPayloadSize);
     eckit::LocalPathName path;
     s >> path;
+
     // Handle both path and absPath for compatibility as we move from storing
     // absolute paths to relative paths. Either may exist in either the TOC_SUB_TOC
     // or TOC_CLEAR entries.
@@ -682,7 +683,17 @@ eckit::LocalPathName TocHandler::parseSubTocRecord(const TocRecord& r, bool read
     if (path.path()[0] == '/') {
         absPath = findRealPath(path);
         if (!absPath.exists()) {
-            absPath = currentDirectory() / path.baseName();
+            // the DB may have been moved, so try to find the subtoc in the current directory
+            // except in case of an overlay (subtoc name = "toc")
+            if (path.baseName() != "toc") {
+                absPath = currentDirectory() / path.baseName();
+            }
+            else {
+                eckit::Log::error()
+                    << "Skipping an FDB overlay database that is no longer available. Original path was: " << path
+                    << std::endl;
+                absPath = "";
+            }
         }
     }
     else {
diff --git a/tests/fdb/api/test_auxiliary.cc b/tests/fdb/api/test_auxiliary.cc
index 3c5be890b..4bd249db1 100644
--- a/tests/fdb/api/test_auxiliary.cc
+++ b/tests/fdb/api/test_auxiliary.cc
@@ -199,7 +199,7 @@ CASE("Ensure wipe fails if extensions are unknown") {
         auto iter = fdb.wipe(request, doit, false, unsafeWipeAll);
         while (iter.next(elem)) {}
     }
-    catch (eckit::Exception) {
+    catch (eckit::Exception&) {
         error_was_thrown = true;
     }
     EXPECT(error_was_thrown);
diff --git a/tests/regressions/CMakeLists.txt b/tests/regressions/CMakeLists.txt
index 207b6c486..b1d253f2f 100644
--- a/tests/regressions/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tests/regressions/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ if (HAVE_FDB_BUILD_TOOLS) # test scripts use the fdb tools
     endif()
 
     add_subdirectory(FDB-241)
+    add_subdirectory(FDB-735)
 
     if (HAVE_FDB_REMOTE)
         add_subdirectory(FDB-419)
diff --git a/tests/regressions/FDB-735/CMakeLists.txt b/tests/regressions/FDB-735/CMakeLists.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..30547fdff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/regressions/FDB-735/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+ecbuild_configure_file( FDB-735.sh.in FDB-735.sh @ONLY )
+ecbuild_add_test(
+    TYPE     SCRIPT
+    COMMAND  FDB-735.sh
+    ENVIRONMENT "${test_environment}" )
diff --git a/tests/regressions/FDB-735/FDB-735.sh.in b/tests/regressions/FDB-735/FDB-735.sh.in
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..ed4e0d15e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/regressions/FDB-735/FDB-735.sh.in
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+# A 'type: select' FDB whose lanes share the same physical root can, for a
+# partial (ambiguous) list/wipe request that omits the keyword used to
+# discriminate between lanes, have every matching lane independently
+# rediscover the *same* on-disk catalogue and process it more than once.
+#
+# Two lanes ("stream=oper" and "stream=dcda") share the same root.
+# A request that omits "stream" entirely legitimately matches both lanes
+# (SelectFDB's MatchOnMissing policy), so both are queried -- but each lane
+# then scans the *shared* root and finds *both* catalogues (the per-lane
+# selector is not used to filter which catalogues are relevant), so every
+# catalogue is reported/wiped once per lane instead of once overall.
+
+set -euxo pipefail
+
+yell() { printf "$(basename "$0"): \033[0;31m!!! %s !!!\033[0m\\n" "$*" >&2; }
+die() { yell "$*"; exit 1; }
+
+fdbroot="$<TARGET_FILE:fdb-root>"
+fdboverlay="$<TARGET_FILE:fdb-overlay>"
+fdbwipe="$<TARGET_FILE:fdb-wipe>"
+
+srcdir=@CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR@
+bindir=@CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR@
+wdir=$bindir/FDB-735
+
+### cleanup and prepare test
+
+rm -rf "$wdir"
+mkdir -p "$wdir/etc/fdb"
+mkdir -p "$wdir/root"
+
+cd "$wdir"
+
+for f in config.yaml schema
+do
+    cp "$srcdir/$f" "$wdir/etc/fdb"
+done
+
+export FDB_HOME="$wdir"
+unset FDB5_CONFIG_FILE
+unset FDB_CONFIG_FILE
+
+# create empty expver 1234
+$fdbroot class=od,expver=1234,stream=oper,domain=g,date=-1,time=0 --create
+
+# overlay 1235 --> 1234
+$fdboverlay class=od,expver=1234,stream=oper,domain=g,date=-1,time=0 class=od,expver=1235,stream=oper,domain=g,date=-1,time=0 
+
+# remove 1234 (dangerous, since we have an overlay!)
+$fdbwipe class=od,expver=1234,stream=oper,domain=g,date=-1,time=0 --doit
+
+# segfault while removing 1235
+$fdbwipe class=od,expver=1235,stream=oper,domain=g,date=-1,time=0
+
diff --git a/tests/regressions/FDB-735/config.yaml b/tests/regressions/FDB-735/config.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4dd904599
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/regressions/FDB-735/config.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+---
+type: local
+schema: ~fdb/etc/fdb/schema
+engine: toc
+spaces:
+- handler: Default
+  roots:
+  - path: ./root
diff --git a/tests/regressions/FDB-735/schema b/tests/regressions/FDB-735/schema
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..36abb37fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/regressions/FDB-735/schema
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+
+param:      Param;
+step:       Step;
+date:       Date;
+levelist:   Double;
+expver:     Expver;
+time:       Time;
+
+[ class, expver, stream, date, time, domain
+       [ type, levtype
+               [ step, levelist, param ]]
+]