diff --git a/src/plugins/streamers/lefdef/db_plugin/dbLEFImporter.cc b/src/plugins/streamers/lefdef/db_plugin/dbLEFImporter.cc
index 4b136bb7e..92a8046ff 100644
--- a/src/plugins/streamers/lefdef/db_plugin/dbLEFImporter.cc
+++ b/src/plugins/streamers/lefdef/db_plugin/dbLEFImporter.cc
@@ -404,14 +404,14 @@ LEFImporter::read_nondefaultrule (db::Layout &layout)
   //  read NONDEFAULTRULE sections
   std::string n = get ();
 
-  while (! test ("END")) {
+  while (! at_end () && ! test ("END")) {
 
     if (test ("LAYER")) {
 
       std::string l = get ();
 
       //  read the width for the layer
-      while (! test ("END")) {
+      while (! at_end () && ! test ("END")) {
         if (test ("WIDTH")) {
           double w = get_double ();
           test (";");
@@ -452,7 +452,7 @@ LEFImporter::read_nondefaultrule (db::Layout &layout)
 void
 LEFImporter::read_viadef_by_rule (RuleBasedViaGenerator *vg, ViaDesc &via_desc, const std::string & /*n*/, double dbu)
 {
-  while (! test ("END")) {
+  while (! at_end () && ! test ("END")) {
 
     double x, y;
 
@@ -1181,7 +1181,7 @@ LEFImporter::do_read (db::Layout &layout)
       LEFDEFSection section (this, "BEGINEXT");
 
       //  read over BEGINEXT sections
-      while (! test ("ENDEXT")) {
+      while (! at_end () && ! test ("ENDEXT")) {
         take ();
       }
 
diff --git a/src/plugins/streamers/lefdef/unit_tests/dbLEFDEFImportTests.cc b/src/plugins/streamers/lefdef/unit_tests/dbLEFDEFImportTests.cc
index 09b435dfb..0dcc0c646 100644
--- a/src/plugins/streamers/lefdef/unit_tests/dbLEFDEFImportTests.cc
+++ b/src/plugins/streamers/lefdef/unit_tests/dbLEFDEFImportTests.cc
@@ -320,6 +320,7 @@ TEST(lef7)
 TEST(lef8)
 {
   //  this is rather a smoke test and throws a number of warnings
+  //  (complete example)
   run_test (_this, "lef8", "lef:tech.lef+lef:a.lef", "au.oas.gz", default_options ());
 }
 
@@ -425,6 +426,7 @@ TEST(def15)
 TEST(def16)
 {
   //  this is rather a smoke test
+  //  (complete example)
   db::LEFDEFReaderOptions opt = default_options ();
   opt.set_macro_resolution_mode (1);
   run_test (_this, "def16", "lef:a.lef+lef:tech.lef+def:a.def", "au.oas.gz", opt);
@@ -968,3 +970,9 @@ TEST(205_lef_resistance)
   run_test (_this, "issue-1214", "read:merged.nom.lef", "au.oas.gz", lefdef_opt, false);
 }
 
+//  issue 1282
+TEST(206_lef_spacing)
+{
+  run_test (_this, "issue-1282", "read:a.lef", 0, default_options (), false);
+}
+