diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 10c17d8b5..f5468b161 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2013-05-04  Peter Stephenson  <p.w.stephenson@ntlworld.com>
+
+	* 31369: Completion/Base/Utility/_comp_locale: action if locale
+	command is not usable.
+
 2013-04-29  Bart Schaefer  <schaefer@zsh.org>
 
 	* 31361: Src/init.c: handle negative optno ("no" prefix used)
diff --git a/Completion/Base/Utility/_comp_locale b/Completion/Base/Utility/_comp_locale
index 19870435a..e55338b97 100644
--- a/Completion/Base/Utility/_comp_locale
+++ b/Completion/Base/Utility/_comp_locale
@@ -7,7 +7,14 @@
 # This exports new locale settings, so should only
 # be run in a subshell.  A typical use is in a $(...).
 
-local ctype=${${(f)"$(locale 2>/dev/null)"}:#^LC_CTYPE=*}
-unset -m LC_\*
-[[ -n $ctype ]] && eval export $ctype
+local ctype
+
+if ctype=${${(f)"$(locale 2>/dev/null)"}:#^LC_CTYPE=*}; then
+    unset -m LC_\*
+    [[ -n $ctype ]] && eval export $ctype
+else
+    ctype=${LC_ALL:-${LC_CTYPE:-${LANG:-C}}}
+    unset -m LC_\*
+    export LC_CTYPE=$ctype
+fi
 export LANG=C