diff --git a/src/lib/ebus/data.cpp b/src/lib/ebus/data.cpp
index 7e20a8c7..3eb736da 100644
--- a/src/lib/ebus/data.cpp
+++ b/src/lib/ebus/data.cpp
@@ -265,16 +265,25 @@ result_t DataField::create(vector<string>::iterator& it,
 						const char* str = token.c_str();
 						char* strEnd = NULL;
 						unsigned long int id;
-						if (strncasecmp(str, "0x", 2) == 0)
-							id = strtoul(str+2, &strEnd, 16); // hexadecimal
-						else
+						if (strncasecmp(str, "0x", 2) == 0) {
+							str += 2;
+							id = strtoul(str, &strEnd, 16); // hexadecimal
+						} else {
 							id = strtoul(str, &strEnd, 10); // decimal
-						if (strEnd == NULL || strEnd == str || *strEnd != '=' || id > MAX_VALUE) {
+						}
+						if (strEnd == NULL || strEnd == str || id > MAX_VALUE) {
 							result = RESULT_ERR_INVALID_LIST;
 							break;
 						}
-
-						values[(unsigned int)id] = string(strEnd + 1);
+						// remove blanks around '=' sign
+						while (*strEnd == ' ') strEnd++;
+						if (*strEnd != '=') {
+							result = RESULT_ERR_INVALID_LIST;
+							break;
+						}
+						token = string(strEnd + 1);
+						FileReader::trim(token);
+						values[(unsigned int)id] = token;
 					}
 				}
 				if (result != RESULT_OK)
diff --git a/src/lib/ebus/test/test_data.cpp b/src/lib/ebus/test/test_data.cpp
index 73919f23..57f1ebdc 100644
--- a/src/lib/ebus/test/test_data.cpp
+++ b/src/lib/ebus/test/test_data.cpp
@@ -249,8 +249,9 @@ int main()
 		{"x,,ulg", "-",          "10feffff04ffffffff", "00", ""},
 		{"x,,ulg,10","3.8",      "10feffff0426000000", "00", ""},
 		{"x,,ulg,-10","380",     "10feffff0426000000", "00", ""},
-		{"x,,ulg,0x0FF0F00F=VRT 350;0x33CCCC33=VRT 360;0x3CC3C33C=SD 17;0x66999966=SD 37;0x69969669=VRT 360+",
-			"VRT 350",         "10feffff040FF0F00F", "00", ""},
+		{"x,,ulg,0x0FF0F00F   =  VRT 350 ;0x33CCCC33=VRT 360;0x3CC3C33C=SD 17;0x66999966=SD 37;0x69969669=VRT 360+",
+		      "VRT 350",         "10feffff040FF0F00F", "00", ""},
+		{"x,,ulg,0x=test", "",   "10feffff040FF0F00F", "00", "c"},
 		{"x,,ulr", "38",         "10feffff0400000026", "00", ""},
 		{"x,,ulr", "0",          "10feffff0400000000", "00", ""},
 		{"x,,ulr", "4294967294", "10feffff04fffffffe", "00", ""},