diff --git a/lib/behat/classes/util.php b/lib/behat/classes/util.php
index ae33d94f07f..3ebe647917b 100644
--- a/lib/behat/classes/util.php
+++ b/lib/behat/classes/util.php
@@ -151,9 +151,10 @@ class behat_util extends testing_util {
         $ch = curl_init($url);
         curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
         $result = curl_exec($ch);
+        $statuscode = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);
         curl_close($ch);
 
-        if (empty($result)) {
+        if ($statuscode !== 200 || empty($result) || (!$result = json_decode($result, true))) {
 
             behat_error (BEHAT_EXITCODE_REQUIREMENT, $CFG->behat_wwwroot . ' is not available, ensure you specified ' .
                 'correct url and that the server is set up and started.' . PHP_EOL . ' More info in ' .
@@ -161,7 +162,6 @@ class behat_util extends testing_util {
         }
 
         // Check if cli version is same as web version.
-        $result = json_decode($result, true);
         $clienv = self::get_environment();
         if ($result != $clienv) {
             $output = 'Differences detected between cli and webserver...'.PHP_EOL;