diff --git a/app/controllers/requests_controller.rb b/app/controllers/requests_controller.rb
index 79a29461e..82f31152c 100644
--- a/app/controllers/requests_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/requests_controller.rb
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ class RequestsController < ApplicationController
     aspect = current_user.aspect_by_id(params[:request][:aspect_id])
 
     begin
-      rel_hash = relationship_flow(params[:request][:destination_url])
+      rel_hash = relationship_flow(params[:request][:destination_url].strip!)
     rescue Exception => e
       raise e unless e.message.include? "not found"
       flash[:error] = I18n.t 'requests.create.error'
diff --git a/app/models/request.rb b/app/models/request.rb
index d57470745..d910cfaa2 100644
--- a/app/models/request.rb
+++ b/app/models/request.rb
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ class Request
 protected
   def clean_link
     if self.destination_url
+      self.destination_url = self.destination_url.strip
       self.destination_url = 'http://' + self.destination_url unless self.destination_url.match('https?://')
       self.destination_url = self.destination_url + '/' if self.destination_url[-1,1] != '/'
     end
diff --git a/spec/models/request_spec.rb b/spec/models/request_spec.rb
index c40d1a25e..dc5145f2a 100644
--- a/spec/models/request_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/request_spec.rb
@@ -38,4 +38,11 @@ describe Request do
     Request.for_user(user).all.count.should == 1
   end
 
+  it 'should strip the destination url' do
+    person_request = Request.new
+    person_request.destination_url = "   http://google.com/   "
+    person_request.send(:clean_link)
+    person_request.destination_url.should == "http://google.com/"
+  end
+
 end